Brentwood Academy Asks State Supreme Court To Dismiss Rape Suit

BRENTWOOD, TN -- Brentwood Academy is asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to order the dismissal of a civil suit filed against the prestigious private school alleging the school covered up a locker room rape.

In February, the state's Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Williamson County Circuit Court Judge Deanna Johnson erred when she dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice.

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In December, attorneys for the plaintiffs - John Doe, the victim of the alleged locker room sexual assaults in 2014 and 2015, and his mother, Jane - asked Johnson to dismiss the case without prejudice, allowing them to refile the case at a later date.

Instead, Johnson dismissed the case with prejudice, essentially barring the Does from refiling the suit forever and can be an indication the judge believes the suit was brought in bad faith.

The appeals court ruled Johnson should have granted the original request and the court made that ruling without hearing oral arguments.

Monday, BA's attorneys filed an appeal application with the Supreme Court, asking it to reinstate Johnson's original ruling. The court sealed that application, but hasn't yet ruled if it will hear the case.

According to the original lawsuit, four then-eighth-graders raped, sexually assaulted and sexually harassed a 12-year-old in the 2014-15 academic year. When the boy's mother broached the topic with BA administrators, she was told by her son's counselor "this isn't how Christian institutions handle these things" and the school's headmaster Curtis G. Masters told John Doe " "everything in God's kingdom happens for a reason" and "turn the other cheek."

Brentwood Academy has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and in a statement sent to The Tennessean in February, said the school will "vigorously defend" itself in the event the suit comes back before a judge.

"The Brentwood Police Department's Child Protective Investigative Team, an independent group which included the Tennessee Department of Children Services and the District Attorney's Office, concluded that 'no criminal wrongdoing on the part of Brentwood Academy staff was discovered.'" the statement read.

The standard for civil liability is different from that for criminal prosecution.

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