Friday, November 20, 2009 East Central Illinois

Attorney wants to revisit 'passing' theory in Jon White case

By: Mary Schenk

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Wednesday, February 04, 2009

URBANA – An attorney representing one of former Urbana teacher Jon White's victims is going to ask a federal appeals court to take another look at her theory that the school district that "passed" White to Urbana should be liable for his actions in Urbana schools.

In an order entered Tuesday, federal Judge Michael McCuskey adopted the December recommendation of Magistrate David Bernthal that absolves the McLean County Unit 5 school district of liability for White's later conduct in Urbana.

White, 28, was convicted of sexually molesting eight girls at Thomas Paine Elementary School in Urbana between August 2005 and December 2006, where he taught after leaving a teaching position at a Normal elementary school. He was also convicted of molesting two girls in Normal in 2004 and 2005. He's now serving a 60-year prison sentence on all the convictions.

Ellyn Bullock, the attorney for "Jane Doe-2," filed suit in federal court in July against White and the Urbana and Normal school districts.

The Urbana school district settled out of court with the child's family in November for $390,000. That left the Normal school district as the only other major source of funds, as it's unlikely that White, even if he's held liable, will be able to pay.

Bullock had sought to hold the Normal school district accountable for "passing on" a child predator to the Urbana school district. But Bernthal wrote in his earlier opinion that because the conduct involving "Jane Doe-2" happened in Urbana, the Normal school district could not be held responsible.

"Because the wrongful 'passing' of White from the McLean school district to Urbana involves important, but factually unique, issues, I am hopeful that the court of appeals will be interested and will rule in plaintiff's favor," Bullock said. "Normal's conduct was bad enough that it's a public policy problem. I see these passings as dangerous to all our society and all our children."

Jim Kearns, the Urbana attorney representing McLean County Unit 5 district, said he was pleased with McCuskey's ruling.

"Any time you get sued and you get a case thrown out, it's a good thing," he said. "This is step one. I don't think the case is over yet."

Bullock and Mattoon attorney Sean Britton have filed suits in Champaign County on behalf of other victims against both school districts in which similar arguments are expected.

In those cases, Kearns had filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of the Normal school district, which was to have been argued Tuesday, but Bullock and Britton were given more time to file amended complaints. That has not happened yet.

In the meantime, Bullock and Britton asked that a judge other than Judge Jeff Ford hear those complaints. As a matter of law, they have a right to substitute judges as long as no substantive rulings have been made. The cases have now been assigned to Judge Michael Jones.

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