On February 14, 2025, the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed to consider Ormond Simpkins, Jr. v. South Orange-Maplewood School District (089974). The closely watched case will address whether a public school district can be held vicariously liable for sexual abuse committed by a teacher outside the scope of her employment. The Appellate Division previously held that the school district could not be held liable under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act’s vicarious liability provision.
Facts of the Case
Ormond Simpkins, Jr., Frankie Jerome and Brandon Hayes each filed suit against the South Orange-MaplewoodSchool District (District) alleging they were sexually abused by Nicole Dufault, a language arts and special education teacher at Columbia High School while they were students during the 2013-14 school year. Plaintiffs, who were between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, allege the abuse took place on multiple occasions in Dufault’s classroom during school hours as well as in her car on school grounds and elsewhere.
Plaintiffs claim Dufault altered their attendance records to excuse their absences from other classes when they were with her and favorably manipulated their grades. The abuse continued until September 2014, when a video surfaced of Dufault engaged in sexual relations with another student, and she was arrested.
The trial court granted the District’s motion to dismiss with prejudice those counts of all three complaints pleading common law claims seeking to hold the District vicariously liable for Dufault’s alleged abuse.1 The court held the Tort Claims Act’s vicarious liability provision, N.J.S.A. 59:2-2(a), permits a public entity to be held liable only for those acts of its employees occurring within the scope of their employment. The court found “DuFault’s alleged assault and sexual abuse of plaintiff[s] was clearly outside the scope of her employment,” being obviously beyond anything authorized by the District and not in any way actuated by a purpose to serve her employer.
Appellate Division’s Decision
The Appellate Division affirmed. In doing so, it rejected the Plaintiffs’ reliance on the aided-by-agency theory from Hardwicke v. American Boychoir School, 188 N.J. 69 (2006), and the 2019 amendments to the New Jersey Tort Claims Act. As the appeals court explained:
There is no question but that the Court in Hardwicke held a private entity qualifying as a passive abuser under the Child Sexual Abuse Act may be held vicariously liable for common law claims alleging conduct within the Act’s definition of sexual abuse committed by an employee acting outside the scope of his employment in accord with section 219(2)(d) of the Restatement. But that a private entity may be held liable for the torts of an employee outside the scope of employment will not make a public entity similarly liable because “[t]he liability of the public entity must be found in the [Tort Claims] Act.”
Issues Before the NJ Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court granted certification. The justices have agreed to consider the following question:
Under the circumstances presented, where plaintiffs allege that they were sexually abused by a former teacher on school grounds during school hours, can a public entity be held vicariously liable for those acts?
Oral arguments have not yet been scheduled. Please check back for updates.