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S.J. BY HER PARENT T.J., : SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
: CAMDEN COUNTY - LAW DIV.
Plaintiffs, :
: CIVIL ACTION
vs. :
:
WINSLOW TOWNSHIP SCHOOL : DOCKET NO:
DISTRICT and JOHN DOES 1-5 AND :
6-10, :
:
Defendants. : COMPLAINT AND JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff, S.J., by her parent and guardian, T.J., residing in the State of New Jersey, by
Preliminary Statement
This matter is brought under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”)
school which, the school having been advised of the existence of same, failed to prevent or deter.
Plaintiff S.J. seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and an equitable order from the
Identification of Parties
1. Plaintiff S.J. is a minor, and a female student, who, at all relevant times herein,
attended Winslow Township Middle School, which is part of Winslow Township School
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2. Plaintiff T.J. is the parent of S.J. and brings suit on behalf of her minor child.
organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey and was the responsible party under the
paradigm of gender harassment in a school setting as imported from the Lehmann v. Toys R' Us
decision by virtue of L.W. v. Toms River decision and was also responsible for the prevention
4. Defendants John Does 1-5 and 6-10, currently unidentified, are individuals and/or
entities who, on the basis of their direct acts or on the basis of respondeat superior, are
General Allegations
7. From February 2016, until October 2016, a female student named Daeyanna, and
other female students engaged in sex or gender based harassment toward plaintiff.
8. The sex or gender based harassment that occurred during that time included, but
text messages to plaintiff where they would refer to her as a “bitch,” “dick rider,” “whore,” and
“slut.”
10. In April or May of 2016, Daeyanna also spread a false rumor about plaintiff both
in school, and on social media, that plaintiff sent a male classmate nude photographs.
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12. After Daeyanna spread this false rumor, she began to harass plaintiff about
sending nude photographs, although plaintiff never actually sent those photographs.
13. Daeyanna, and other female students would also refer to plaintiff as “bald
14. In or around October 2016, plaintiff’s mother became aware of the harassment,
15. In particular, plaintiff’s mother spoke to two principals at the school, Mr. Carter,
16. To plaintiff’s knowledge, neither Mr. Carter nor Mr. Marlon did anything about
17. After plaintiff’s mother made complaints about the sexually harassing comments,
18. Every time the comments would occur, the plaintiff’s mother would again go to
the office, and complain, but to her knowledge, nothing was done.
19. In addition to engaging in the same harassment that had occurred prior to
plaintiff’s mother making complaints, Daeyanna, and other students began to make threats to
20. In particular Daeyanna sent text messages to plaintiff where she stated that she
21. The harassing comments continued after October 2016 on a regular basis up to
22. In or around June 2017, Daeyanna approached plaintiff and falsely accused
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23. Plaintiff told Daeyanna that she never referred to her mother in that way, and
Daeyanna responded by grabbing plaintiff by her hair and dragging her across the room.
24. As a result of this incident, hair was ripped from plaintiff’s head.
25. As Daeyanna was physically assaulting plaintiff, she told plaintiff “I told you I
26. In stating this, Daeyanna was referring to the harassing text message that she sent
to plaintiff.
27. Plaintiff is a female student that attended a school within defendant’s school
district.
30. All harassment set forth herein is such that a reasonable female student in
plaintiff’s circumstance would have found the school environment altered to have become
32. The harassment of plaintiff was purposeful, intentional, and willful and members
of defendant’s upper management and administrative staff were made aware of the harassment,
33. Because the harassment was intentionally egregious, and because members of
upper management were willfully indifferent to the harassment, punitive damages are warranted.
34. Defendant is liable for the harassment because it failed to reasonably promulgate
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35. The school district is further liable in this matter because it was notified of the
harassment and failed to take prompt and effective remedial measures to correct the harassment.
36. As a result of the unlawful conduct outlined above, plaintiff has been forced to
suffer harm.
COUNT I
37. Plaintiff hereby repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 36, as though fully set
forth herein.
38. For the reasons set forth above, the aforementioned conduct constitutes actionable
L.W. v. Toms River decision applied in the Lehmann v. Toys R 'Us decision.
WHEREFORE, plaintiff demands judgment against the defendants jointly, severally and
in the alternative, together with compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, cost of suit,
attorneys’ fees, enhanced attorneys’ fees, and any other relief the Court deems equitable and just.
COUNT II
39. Plaintiff hereby repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 38, as though fully set
forth herein.
40. Plaintiff hereby requests the Court issue equitable orders requiring the following:
gatherings and other in-service training to make certain that the gender
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necessary.
WHEREFORE, plaintiff demands judgment against the defendants jointly, severally and
in the alternative, together with compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, cost of suit,
attorneys’ fees, enhanced attorneys’ fees, and any other relief the Court deems equitable and just.
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1. All defendants are hereby directed and demanded to preserve all physical and
action and/or prayers for relief, to any defenses to same, and pertaining to any party, including,
but not limited to, electronic data storage, closed circuit TV footages, digital images, computer
images, cache memory, searchable data, emails, spread sheets, employment files, memos, text
messages and any and all online social or work related websites, entries on social networking
sites (including, but not limited to, Facebook, twitter, MySpace, etc.), and any other information
and/or data and/or things and/or documents which may be relevant to any claim or defense in this
litigation.
2. Failure to do so will result in separate claims for spoliation of evidence and/or for
JURY DEMAND
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1. I am licensed to practice law in New Jersey and am responsible for the captioned
matter.
Drake P. Bearden, Jr., Esquire, of the law firm of Costello & Mains, LLC, is hereby-
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Case Caption: J. T. VS WINSLOW TOWNSHIP SCH OOL Case Type: LAW AGAINST DISCRIMINATION (LAD) CASES
DISTR Document Type: Complaint with Jury Demand
Case Initiation Date: 05/23/2018 Jury Demand: YES - 6 JURORS
Attorney Name: DRAKE P BEARDEN JR Hurricane Sandy related? NO
Firm Name: COSTELLO & MAINS, LLC Is this a professional malpractice case? NO
Address: 18000 HORIZON WAY STE 800 Related cases pending: NO
MT LAUREL NJ 080544319 If yes, list docket numbers:
Phone: Do you anticipate adding any parties (arising out of same
Name of Party: PLAINTIFF : J., T. transaction or occurrence)? NO
Name of Defendant’s Primary Insurance Company
(if known): Unknown
I certify that confidential personal identifiers have been redacted from documents now submitted to the
court, and will be redacted from all documents submitted in the future in accordance with Rule 1:38-7(b)