Federal Judge Timothy J. Corrigan okays compensatory and punitive damage complaint against Flagler College in case alleging retaliation for reporting sexual harassment of students by Joel Bolante

On Monday, June 22, 2020, United States District Judge Timothy Corrigan issued an Order approving an amended complaint seeking backpay, front pay, reinstatement, compensatory damages and punitive damages against FLAGLER COLLEGE, INC. in a case brought by illegally fired fifteen-year professor Dr. Tina Jaeckle, Ph.D. Once again, FLAGLER COLLEGE's bad karma is catching up with it -- this peculiar institution disdains tenure for faculty and allowed itself to be run by bosses like recently-retired Chancellor WILLIAM LEE PROCTOR, Title XI coordinator and author own the retaliation. Fired satrap PROCTOR is believed to b e the meanest man in St. Augustine, and was once the Republican Lord of All He Surveys in the Nation's Oldest City.

WILLIAM LEE PROCTOR (right) with ROBERT THORNTON SMITH, local Republican arachnid apparatchik, who recruits phantom "write-in" candidates and brags of voter suppression and stealing opponents signs


UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA JACKSONVILLE DIVISION

TINA JAECKLE, Plaintiff,
v.
FLAGLER COLLEGE, INC.,
Defendant.
Case No. 3:19-cv-1323-J-32MCR

ORDER
This employment case is before the Court on Plaintiff Tina Jaeckle’s Motion for Leave to File Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 33) and Defendant Flagler College, Inc.’s response in opposition (Doc. 35). Jaeckle wishes to add to her complaint (1) reinstatement with back pay as a form of alternative equitable relief or, alternatively, back pay and front pay, and (2) a request for punitive damages for violation of Title IX. (Doc. 33).
Courts should freely give leave to amend when justice so requires. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). However, a district court may deny leave to amend when amendment would be futile. See, e.g., Crawford’s Auto Center, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 945 F.3d 1150, 1162-63 (11th Cir. 2019); St. Charles Foods, Inc. v. Am.’s Favorite Chicken Co., 198 F.3d 815, 822-23 (11th Cir. 1999)

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(“When a district court denies the plaintiff leave to amend a complaint due to futility, the court is making the legal conclusion that the complaint, as amended, would necessarily fail.”).
Flagler does not oppose the addition of requests for back pay, front pay, and reinstatement to Jaeckle’s Title IX claim. (Doc. 35 at 2). As Flagler concedes, compensatory damages are allowed for Title IX claims. Thus, Jaeckle may amend the complaint to include back pay, front pay, and reinstatement.
However, Jaeckle’s request to include a prayer for punitive damages for violation of Title IX poses a more difficult question. While it appears that, under oft-cited case law, punitive damages are usually held not available under Title IX, neither the Supreme Court nor the Eleventh Circuit have ever so ruled. Given this, the Court prefers not to rule on this issue in the context of a motion for leave to amend. Thus, the Court will allow the amendment in full and let Flagler raise the punitive damages issue at a later point in the proceedings.
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED:
1. Plaintiff Tina Jaeckle’s Motion for Leave to File Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 33) is GRANTED.
2. The Clerk should file Plaintiff Tina Jaeckle’s Second Amended Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial (Doc. 33-1). No later than July 7, 2020, Defendant Flagler College, Inc. should file its answer to the Second Amended
2

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Complaint. This does not prevent Defendant from moving to strike the punitive damages claim or from later filing a motion for summary judgment addressing the punitive damages issue.
3. This case is still governed by the Case Management and Scheduling Order (Doc. 19).
DONE AND ORDERED in Jacksonville, Florida the 22nd day of June, 2020.
tnm Copies:
Counsel of record