Chelmsford Officials Seek Dismissal of Hazing Lawsuit

CHELMSFORD - A federal judge has given a former Chelmsford football player until next month to respond to a motion by Chelmsford officials to dismiss a federal lawsuit that stems from a 2013 hazing incident at a summer football camp.

In court documents filed on last month in U.S. District Court in Boston, the town of Chelmsford, the Chelmsford School Committee and other school officials are asking U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Matthew Sr. and Kristine Thomas, parents of Matthew Thomas Jr., who allege their son was hazed and assaulted by his teammates during football camp in New Hampshire in August of 2013.

Saris has given the Thomas family, through their attorney Brian Leahey, until March 1 to respond to the town's motion to dismiss.

In court documents, attorney Michael Leedberg, representing the town of Chelmsford, argues that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the victim failed to show that school officials demonstrated a "deliberate indifference'' to his plight and that the victim's due-process rights were not violated, nor was he subjected to "stigma-plus'' defamation.

Leedberg also argues that school officials are entitled to "qualified immunity'' in such claims.

The lawsuit alleges that at least three of the victim's teammates held him down and assaulted him with a broomstick at a team retreat in Moultonboro, N.H. in August of 2013.

After the incident was reported to police, Leahey alleges the victim, then a sophomore, was bullied and harassed at Chelmsford High School by his classmates and some staff. The lawsuit alleges that school officials and employees failed to follow school policies regarding bullying creating an "unsafe and hostile educational environment'' that led to the victim and his sibling transferring to a private school.

School officials allegedly protected the star athletes, the lawsuit alleges.

Leedberg countered that "every single incident that came to the football coach's attention during camp was dealt with swiftly and effectively.'' Disciplinary action was taken against the perpetrators which included a 10-day school suspension and removal from the Chelmsford High School Varsity Football Team, he wrote.

The question is whether the plaintiffs can show that the town and Chelmsford School Committee encouraged a "custom or policy'' of "see-no-evil, hear-no-evil'' when it cam to disciplining star athletes, he wrote.