Brentwood Academy case: Appeals court overturns Williamson judge, case may be refiled in future

A Williamson County judge erred when she ruled a son and mother could not refile their lawsuit accusing Brentwood Academy students and administrators of wrongdoing in connection to alleged sexual assaults, according to a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling filed Friday.

The appeals court ruling is a rapid rebuke of the Williamson County court, opening the door to more protracted legal battles for the prestigious private school.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled unanimously Friday that Williamson County Circuit Court Judge Deanna Johnson should have allowed attorneys for John Doe and Jane Doe to dismiss their case in a way that they could refile it in the future.

In its ruling, the appeals court took the unusual step of saying it did not need to hear additional oral arguments or see additional documents before issuing its order.

“We are grateful to and humbled by the Court of Appeals’ ruling," said Justin Gilbert, the attorney for the Does.

In August, John Doe filed a lawsuit through his mother Jane Doe against the Williamson County school, administrators and four students. The lawsuit accuses students during the 2014-15 school year of blocking locker room doors and holding down John Doe, then a 12-year-old boy, while the fourth student repeatedly sexually assaulted Doe.

More: Brentwood Academy case: Judge denies request for arrest warrant for attorney representing family

The lawsuit also accuses school administrators of not doing enough to prevent or appropriately respond to the alleged attacks.

Brentwood Academy and the accused boys have all denied wrongdoing. In December, the Brentwood Police Department announced it had concluded a more than three-year investigation and would not file criminal charges.

If the plaintiffs decide to refile the lawsuit, "Brentwood Academy will continue to vigorously defend against the false allegations," according to an emailed statement from Brentwood Academy spokeswoman Susan Shafer.

"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 says.

The standards for criminal liability and civil liability are different.

More: Brentwood police close investigation into sexual assault allegations at Brentwood Academy

More: Year in review: Brentwood Academy lawsuit

After months of legal wrangling, a heated hearing in December led Johnson to order Bureon Ledbetter, an attorney who is assisting the Doe family, to answer questions in a deposition. Ledbetter and Gilbert declined, saying Ledbetter would violate attorney-client privilege if he answered questions from Brentwood Academy attorneys.

Johnson disagreed. Instead of having Ledbetter answer the questions, Gilbert decided to dismiss their case "without prejudice," also called a "voluntary nonsuit." It's a common way to end a lawsuit that would allow the Does to refile the lawsuit in the future.

Instead, Johnson ruled the case must be dismissed "with prejudice," essentially closing the door on any future filings. Typically, attorneys representing the people who filed the lawsuit have the right to ask for its dismissal without prejudice in almost any circumstance.

The appeals court agreed.

"Once the nonsuit was filed, the only thing left to do was the ministerial act of entering the order of dismissal without prejudice," the court wrote.

The appellate court order was not in the Williamson County court's online docket for the Brentwood Academy lawsuit as of Monday morning. Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other Johnson cases reversed

The Court of Appeals' decision on the Brentwood Academy lawsuit marks the eighth time the higher court has reversed one of Johnson's orders since she took the bench in 2014.

Since November 2014, the Court of Appeals has heard 31 cases appealed after Johnson ruled on them. The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts does not track the average number of appealed cases among circuit court judges across the state.

Eight cases Johnson ruled on were fully reversed by the Court of Appeals, and two more were partially reversed, according to Barbara Peck, communications director for the Administrative Office of the Courts.

One of those cases involved a transgender teenager whose parents sought a petition to change his first and middle name. The family submitted letters from the teen's doctor and therapist, who both said the name change was in his best interest. After an evidentiary hearing during which the teen and his parents all spoke in favor of the name change, Johnson denied the name change because she said the parents failed to prove that it was in the child's best interest.

The family appealed, and the appellate court found that there was no legal basis on which to deny the petition, and reversed Johnson's order in September 2017.

"Having considered the court’s reasoning, we conclude that the trial court’s decision to deny the petition was based on a misapprehension of the applicable law. The trial court misapprehended not only 'what' constitutes 'a valid reason' for a name change, but 'who' may file a petition seeking a name change," wrote Judge Frank G. Clement Jr. in the Court of Appeals' opinion.

In another case, Johnson dismissed with prejudice a plaintiff's claim for failure to prosecute and failing to respond to affirmative defenses.

State Farm, in attempts to collect a claim on behalf of its client, sued two men involved in a car accident. The law firm representing the company was restructured shortly after it filed the suit, which delayed the case for a year, during which time no motions were filed.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute, which overlapped with the State Farm attorney's service of discovery requests in September 2016.

Johnson granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, saying that because State Farm didn't respond to the defendants' affirmative defenses for over a year, the company thereby admitted them.

The Court of Appeals reversed Johnson's decision in July, saying that she "applied an incorrect legal standard when granting (the) defendant's dismissal."

Reach Elaina Sauber at esauber@tennessean.com, 615-571-1172 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter. Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892, dboucher@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.