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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Blame game

No thick-headed cluelessness here, no siree:

An Indiana teenager who had sex with her high school volleyball coach knew what she was doing and assumed all risk, according to court documents the school district filed this week in response to an $18.7 million lawsuit filed by the girl’s family.

The family filed the lawsuit last week against the LaPorte Community School Corp., maintaining schools officials ignored signs the two were involved in a relationship. The lawsuit says the district 25 miles west of South Bend didn’t properly supervise its employees or provide a safe environment for the girl, The Times of Munster reported. The lawsuit alleges the girl, who was 15 when the relationship began, had sex with the coach about 25 times between 2007 and 2009.

As nifty a use of "blame the victim" strategy as you're ever likely to see.

The coach was found guilty and sentenced to 21 years, which sort of help's the family's lawsuit, so I suppose the district had to say something. But claiming basically that a 15-year-old girl should have known better, and therefore deserves what she got, might make other parents a tad uneasy about leaving their children's fate in this school system's hands.

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