Jury dismisses sexual assault lawsuit against Fairfax County Public Schools
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (DC News Now) — A jury sided with Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) on Wednesday, dismissing a woman’s lawsuit alleging that she was sexually assaulted as a middle schooler.
According to the Associated Press, the woman – who was identified by her initials “B.R.” – alleged that she was ignored by school officials when she reported the attack. Though she first filed the lawsuit in 2019, B.R. claimed the assault happened in 2011 and 2012 at Rachel Carson Middle School in Reston.
B.R. was in the 7th grade at the time and said she was raped multiple times inside and outside of the middle school by a 13-year-old boy, who was in the 8th grade.
A woman accuses a schoolmate of raping her at age 12. The school system says she is making it up.
Lawyers for the school system said that based on social media posts, the two were boyfriend and girlfriend and willingly engaged in sexual acts. They also provided evidence of her sending “I love you” via text messages during the time the incidents supposedly took place.
In court, B.R. denied sending most of those messages and said her attacker forced her to send messages to ensure no one would believe her.
Lawyers for the school system also said she only started making claims about the rape after her alleged attacker broke up with her and after her mother found an inappropriate sexual voicemail on her phone and alerted school officials.
On Wednesday, the jury unanimously sided with the school system.
FCPS released the following statement:
“The jury’s verdict today affirms that the FCPS board and nine current and former educators acted in a caring, respectful, and professional manner to support the plaintiff when she was a student 12 years ago. We are grateful to the jury for their careful evaluation of the evidence and their service on this important case.”
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