Boarding schools and private academies have the cache of prestige.  They are viewed as aspirational and desirable institutions.  When a family enrolls a child in a boarding school or elite private academy, they are doing something that has no parallel in most institutional relationships.  In effect, they are handing over not just their child’s education, but their child’s daily life, including meals, sleep, supervision, safety, to the institution.  The school becomes, for months at a time, the child’s parent, guardian, teacher, and authority figure simultaneously.

In effect, this constitutes a transfer of custody that creates a heightened legal duty of care. When sexual abuse occurs in that environment and the institution responds by concealing it rather than stopping it, a distinct and compelling basis for civil liability arises against the school itself, separate from and in addition to any claim against the individual perpetrator.

Boarding schools and private academies have been the subject of some of the most consequential sexual abuse civil cases in American legal history. The legal theories that those cases established continue to be applied today.  And new legislation that provides lookback windows has opened pathways that were previously closed to survivors.

The Pattern That Repeats

Across documented boarding and private school abuse cases, a common institutional pattern emerges. A student, or a parent, reports abuse to an administrator. The complaint is minimized or handled internally. The accused staff member is quietly transferred, given a positive reference, or allowed to resign. No report is made to law enforcement. The abuser finds a position at another institution. The cycle continues.

This pattern of cover-up and concealment, not just the individual act of abuse, is what creates institutional liability. Courts have consistently found that when a school knew, or should have known, about abuse and failed to act, it can be held financially accountable alongside the perpetrator. The legal theory doesn’t require that the school committed the abuse. It requires that the school had the power to stop it and chose not to.

Horace Mann School – The Case That Changed the Conversation

In June 2012, a New York Times Magazine article by alumnus Amos Kamil exposed decades of sexual abuse at Horace Mann School, an elite private college preparatory school in the Bronx. The article set off a national reckoning.

The Bronx District Attorney launched a 10-month investigation. Investigators traveled to California, Colorado, and Vermont, and identified more than 25 alleged victims and more than 12 suspected abusers. The reported abuse stretched from 1962 through the mid-1990s. The Horace Mann Action Coalition, an independent alumni group that formed in response to the scandal, documented 64 credible allegations of abuse by 22 staff members across that same period.

In May 2013, Horace Mann’s board chairman and head of school issued a public letter apologizing for “the harm caused by the teachers and administrators who abused anyone during their years at Horace Mann School.” The school entered mediation with survivors.

But at that time, the majority of those survivors could not sue. New York’s statute of limitations that was in place barred most adult survivors from filing civil claims. Under that legal pressure and facing a now-or-never choice between a small settlement and nothing, many accepted what they received. One analysis estimated the total paid across more than 30 survivors at between $4 and $5 million, amounts widely criticized as disproportionately low for the severity and duration of what occurred.

One survivor successfully leveraged New Jersey’s less restrictive statute of limitations to file a lawsuit in that state, alleging he was abused 450 times between 1973 and 1977 by music teacher Johannes Somary. His attorney had sought between $10 and $15 million based on the evidence. The case settled in April 2015 on confidential terms.

Horace Mann became a national symbol of elite institutional abuse, and of the role that expired statutes of limitations played in shielding private schools from the full weight of accountability their conduct warranted.

Poly Prep Country Day School – Institutional Liability Defined

Philip Foglietta was hired as head football coach at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn in 1966. Within his first year, a scholarship student reported to administrators that Foglietta had molested him. The student was not invited to return the following year.

Complaints continued for 25 years. One plaintiff in a subsequent lawsuit stated that Poly Prep’s athletic director walked in on Foglietta abusing him in the shower and walked away without intervening. Multiple other students reported the abuse during Foglietta’s tenure. The school’s response was consistent in that the complaints were ignored, while Foglietta remained in his role at the school. He was finally fired for sexual misconduct in 1991, and died in 1998.

In 2009, 12 former students filed a federal lawsuit against Poly Prep, not merely against Foglietta’s estate, but against the school for covering up known abuse for over 25 years in order to protect its athletic reputation and fundraising. Poly Prep argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because it was filed long after the statute of limitations had expired.

U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block ruled in August 2012 that portions of the case could proceed, finding that administrators may have lied about when they first became aware of the abuse, and that fraudulent concealment could toll the statute of limitations. Legal observers described the ruling as a watershed moment for sexual abuse survivors seeking to hold private institutions accountable.

In December 2012, Poly Prep settled with the twelve plaintiffs. Each had sought $20 million. Settlement terms were not disclosed.

The Poly Prep case established a principle that now anchors boarding school abuse litigation.  As a result, the institution’s cover-up conduct is legally distinct from, and separately actionable from, the individual perpetrator’s abuse.

Darlington School – The Scope of Institutional Failure

In April 2024, Floyd County Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs awarded $345 million to 20 survivors of sexual abuse at Darlington School, a private boarding and day school in Rome, Georgia. The abuse was committed by Roger Stifflemire, a teacher and dorm supervisor, between 1977 and 1988. Multiple survivors reported the abuse to faculty and administration during that period. The school did not investigate, and Stifflemire was not removed.

The award was directed at five insurance companies that had provided coverage to Darlington. In March 2026, the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned the $345 million award.  It did so on insurance coverage grounds, not on the question of whether the school was liable for the abuse. The school had already settled with the survivors through consent judgments. The reversal was a dispute between the survivors and the insurers over who was required to pay, not a finding that the abuse did not occur or that the school bore no responsibility.

The Darlington case illustrates a recurring dynamic in boarding school litigation.  It shows that institutions that are found liable for concealing abuse often face a secondary battle over whether their insurance policies cover the resulting damages.

Why the School Can Be Sued Even When the Abuser Is Gone

Survivors of boarding school abuse frequently assume that a civil case is impossible if the abuser is deceased, no longer employed, or beyond the reach of criminal prosecution. That assumption is unfounded and wrong.

Institutional liability in private school abuse cases rests on three legal theories that are independent of the individual perpetrator’s status.

Negligent Hiring – Did the school fail to conduct adequate background checks, or ignore information about prior incidents when hiring the abuser.

Negligent Retention and Supervision – Once complaints were made, did the school act?  Or did it allow continued unsupervised access to students by someone it knew, or should have known, posed a risk?

Failure to report – In many states, school employees are mandated reporters. Failure to notify law enforcement of known or suspected abuse is itself a legal violation that can support civil liability.

Where evidence exists of active concealment through discarded complaints, misleading references, or quiet reassignments or resignations, courts have recognized that conduct as a basis for punitive damages above and beyond compensatory recovery.

If You Were Abused at a Boarding School or Private Academy, You Have Options Available to You

The abuser may be dead. The school may have issued an apology years ago. You may have been told that the statute of limitations has run. None of those facts necessarily prevents you from filing a civil claim today.

Lookback windows in several states, including New York City’s GMVA window, open through approximately July 2027, and California’s AB 250 window, open through December 2027, have restored access to the civil courts for survivors who were previously time-barred. Extended statutes of limitations in many other states have similarly expanded the window for childhood abuse claims.

We are here to hear your story.  Constant Legal Group evaluates boarding school and private academy abuse cases at no cost. We pursue claims against institutions and we are expert in achieving institutional accountability in cases like these.

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contact Constant Legal Group for a confidential evaluation specific to your circumstances.