Child sexual abuse lawsuit under NC SAFE Child Act settled against former Asheville school
In what is widely believed to be the first child sexual abuse case resolved under the landmark 2019 N.C. SAFE Child Act, a graduate of the formerly Asheville-based Ben Lippen School has reached a settlement in her claims of years of sexual abuse at the hands of a coach at the Christian school.
The settlement was reached June 29 during mediation in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Rachel Howald, 51, filed a lawsuit Jan. 15, 2021, in Buncombe County Superior Court under the newly established SAFE Child Act’s lookback window, which allowed child sexual abuse victims who had aged out of the statute of limitations a two-year opportunity to sue their attackers.
Howald, who now lives in the New York City area, claimed that former Ben Lippen teacher and coach Pamela Kaye Herrington sexually assaulted her repeatedly from 1986-88 when Howald was 16 and 17 years old and that the school provided multiple opportunities for the teacher to victimize her.
More news: Alleging sexual abuse, former Ben Lippen School student sues teacher, school
Under the settlement, in which the details will remain sealed, the case against the school is resolved, but the suit against Herrington continues.
“The latest developments in my case have certainly been unexpected and a welcome step in the healing process. But it’s just that – another step in what is essentially a lifelong process for any sexual abuse survivor,” Howald said in an email to the Citizen Times.
“Litigation is a tool for changing the future for others, it’s not a magic wand that wipes away the past. While the case against the school is settled, the trauma that comes from being sexually abused will never go away. I always live with the effects.”
NC Supreme Court: Child sexual assault lawsuit under SAFE Child Act will move forward
The case was settled just a week before a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling in another SAFE Child Act sexual abuse lawsuit, this one levied at a former coach and the Gaston County Board of Education. A three-judge panel in December 2021 had found the law to be unconstitutional, but it was appealed.
In the July 5 order, the Supreme Court allowed the Gaston case to bypass the N.C. Court of Appeals and go directly to the Supreme Court.
One of Howald’s attorneys, Boz Tchividjian, of BozLaw PA in DeLand, Florida, said the fact that Ben Lippen School settled before the Supreme Court even ruled on the constitutionality of the SAFE Child Act is significant.
“It is unusual for these cases to be settled while the matter is pending before the N.C. Supreme Court. Most parties have pushed the ‘pause’ button until there is a ruling,” said Tchividjian, who is a grandson of the famed evangelist Billy Graham and has been critical of institutions, especially religious ones, that seek to cover for abusers and block child protection laws such as North Carolina’s.
The case against Ben Lippen
The assaults took place in dormitories and Herrington’s campus apartment, in school vehicles used for transporting student-athletes, at school athletic events off-campus, in hotel rooms during travel for sports, and in Howald’s own home, according to the suit. Howald’s family lived near Asheville, and she attended Ben Lippen as a day student, although most of the students were boarders.
According to the lawsuit, Herrington was in her late 30s and unmarried when she was hired by the school in 1982. Of the many claims, the lawsuit said that Ben Lippen School allowed Herrington to live in one of the girl’s dorms alongside the students, gave her unsupervised and unrestricted access to the students’ rooms, and used her position to target, groom, and “sexually victimize” some of those students, including Howald.
More: Ben Lippen School denies claims by former student alleging sexual abuse by teacher
Howald sought a jury trial to award compensatory damages and punitive damages for the “severe physical and mental injuries arising from the sexual assaults/batteries” she suffered from Herrington.
In its initial response filed March 31, 2021, Ben Lippen School denied all charges brought by Howald in 43 separate defenses, claiming in part that Howald herself was to blame for the alleged assaults and that the school, being grounded in a Christian tradition, prevented teachers from sexually abusing minors.
These defenses include that Howald was 16 years old when she first met Herrington, and therefore “had attained the legal age of consent prior to the alleged occurrence of the allegations set forth” in the lawsuit and “consented to all of the allegations,” and that Howald “created and/or caused all of the allegations she brought forth.”
The school also claimed that all faculty members were required “to confirm full acceptance and agreement with the School’s Statement of Faith, which included Christian principles of doctrine and practice," and that the school "prohibited all faculty and students from engaging in homosexual acts, pre-marital sexual relations, and abuse of any kind, including sexual abuse, toward a minor child.”
Violations of these prohibitions would result in expulsion or termination of employment, the legal response says.
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Ben Lippen School, also known as Columbia International University, was founded in Asheville in 1940 and used to sit off Ben Lippen School Road in West Asheville, in a building now occupied by the Crest Center. It moved to Columbia in 1988, the same year Herrington left the school after five years of employment.
The school also claimed in its defense that the “lookback” law under which Howald filed the lawsuit was unconstitutional.
Asheville School cases under SAFE Child Act continue
The same "unconstitutionality" defense is being used by Asheville School, an elite, private boarding high school in West Asheville, in response to four lawsuits brought by five alumni dating back to the 1960s who are claiming sexual abuse by former faculty and the school’s negligence in protecting them.
Before the enactment of the SAFE Child Act, victims only had until they were 21 to bring a lawsuit for acts committed against them as children. The law opened a two-year lookback window allowing people who were otherwise barred from bringing an action the opportunity to seek justice, and to file a lawsuit by Dec. 31, 2021.
The Justice Department estimates that 86% of child sexual abuse cases are never reported. And those who do often suffer from “delayed disclosure.”
A public health study cited by CHILD USA found the average age of women and men who reported childhood sexual abuse was 52.
Under the law, dozens of cases were brought against the Daniel Boone Council of the Boy Scouts, based in Asheville, and many other councils, churches, camps, and other institutions across North Carolina.
More: Former WNC Boy Scouts allege child sexual abuse against Daniel Boone Council
More: Haywood County lawsuit against Boy Scouts alleges child sexual abuse in 1970s & '80s
Lawsuit response: Asheville Boy Scouts Daniel Boone CEO responds to lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse
Many of these cases are stayed pending the Supreme Court’s decision in the Gaston County case.
“I continue to hold out great hope that the N.C. Supreme Court will uphold the law and uphold the rights of all victims with pending suits to pursue justice,” Howald said.
“In the due course of (my) lawsuit, I believe that many people have had their eyes opened to the fact that sexual abuse is a very real issue facing many schools in every community, and I believe that survivors have had a chance to see that they are not alone and that there is vast and growing support for those survivors who take the bold step to come forward. And that, in my eyes, is not nothing.”
Karen Chávez is Content Coach/Investigations Editor for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Tips? Call 828-712-6316, email, KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or follow on Twitter @KarenChavezACT.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ben Lippen School settles child sexual abuse case under SAFE Child Act
