Woman Settles Lawsuit Alleging Sex Abuse by Santa Monica High Teacher

SANTA MONICA, CA — A woman has reached a tentative settlement in her lawsuit filed against the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in which she alleged she was twice sexually assaulted by her rock poetry teacher while she was a 16-year-old student at Santa Monica High School in 1978.

Identified only as Jane Doe D.S. and now in her 60s, Doe maintained that teacher Steven Garwood was never trained in having appropriate conduct with students.

On Monday, Doe's attorney filed court papers with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Elaine W. Mandel notifying her of a "conditional" settlement in the case along with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by Jan. 17. No terms were divulged.

In their previous court papers, district lawyers argued that the plaintiff provided no evidence, including through her own testimony, that the alleged abuse she suffered resulted from the failure of any district staff member to supervise her or Garwood. The defense attorneys also denied the district was negligent in hiring the teacher.

"In plaintiff's deposition, she testified in plain terms that the abuse, which took place on two occasions off campus ... could not have been known or suspected by staff," the district's lawyers contended in their court papers.

But in their court papers, Doe's attorneys stated that they learned through pretrial deposition testimony that Garwood was never instructed and/or trained on appropriate conduct with students.

"Indeed, the district has further admitted that it has no evidence that Garwood was subjected to a background check, such as an interview or fingerprinting, prior to his hiring," according to the plaintiff's lawyers, who further contended in their court papers that the district could not even say if Garwood's behavior was monitored at all.

While a student in Garwood's rock poetry class, Garwood used a ruse of wanting to play tennis to meet with Doe after school, according to the suit. Although Garwood ultimately played with someone else, he later sexually assaulted Doe at her friend's home in a shower and in a bedroom, the suit alleged.

Doe, who described the encounter as "terrifying," was sexually assaulted by Garwood a second time when she was at his home on a subsequent date, the suit further alleged.

"The district concedes that it cannot cite any rule that prohibited Garwood from meeting with plaintiff off campus, the suit brought in July 2022 stated.

City News Service