FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) – A lawsuit filed in federal court against Franklin Area School District, Superintendent Pamela Dye, and Junior-Senior High School Principal Christina Cohlhepp, has been dismissed.
The suit, which alleged that the district created a climate in which former teacher Kyle Askins could “prey upon” a girl he was convicted of sexually abusing, was dismissed “with prejudice.”
When a lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice, “the court is saying that it has made a final determination on the merits of the case, and that the plaintiff is therefore forbidden from filing another lawsuit based on the same grounds,” according to Cornell Law.
Susan Paradise Baxter, a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, signed two “Stipulation for Voluntary Dismissal” documents on December 20. One document indicated the case against Dye and Cohlhepp would be dismissed with prejudice. A second document indicated that the case against Franklin Area School District and Kyle Askins would be dismissed with prejudice.
The dismissal comes after the involved parties reached an agreement late last year.
Details of the agreement will not be made public, as they are covered under a sealed protective order that was granted by Venango County Judge Robert Boyer on October 3, 2019, according to Neal Devlin, of the law firm Knox, McLaughlin, Gornall & Sennett, who represented the School District, Dye, and Cohlhepp. Devlin would only characterize it as an “agreement” when asked if it was a resolution or a settlement.
According to court documents, the dismissal was “agreed to by and between the respective parties.”
The plaintiffs in the case were asking a jury to award general and compensatory damages against all named defendants and punitive damages against Askins. Attorneys fees and other related legal costs were also being requested.
Details of the Case
The lawsuit was filed March 1, 2019, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania by attorneys Wayne H. Hundertmark, of Franklin, and Robert Varsek, of Oil City. They represented the parents of the victim.
Allegations within the suit were centered around an ongoing relationship and “a long course of inappropriate physical contact” between teacher Kyle Askins and a 13-year-old female student during the 2016-2017 school year. Askins was also named in the lawsuit.
In a joint response filed in May 2019 by attorneys Neal R. Devlin and Aurora L. Hardin of Erie-based Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, both Dye and Cohlhepp denied several allegations stating that “the answering defendants lack sufficient information to determine the truth of these allegations and, therefore, they are denied.”
After pleading guilty in August 2017 to one first-degree felony count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years of age, Askins, of Franklin, was ordered to serve 54 months to a maximum of 20 years in state prison. He is currently incarcerated at SCI Waymart in Wayne County.
Askins was 25-years-old at the time of the incidents and beginning his second year of employment with Franklin Area School District as a health/physical education teacher and coach.
According to the complaint, Askins “interjected himself and assumed the role as a personal confidant for the victim, paying more attention to her under the pretense of providing her emotional support through her grief and bereavement.”
Askins “enticed and solicited (the girl)” to come to his classroom at the beginning of the school day and his separate office both prior to the beginning of, and after, normal school/class hours,” according to the complaint.
It was at this time that Askins “commenced a course of action to sexually abuse and sexually assault” his victim.
In early 2017, the lawsuit says, Askins also engaged in “open, notorious and obvious contact” with (the girl), and engaged in physical contact with her behind his desk during home room on a “near-daily basis,” all on middle school property in the immediate proximity of other students and school faculty.
“By the second half of the 2016-2017 (school year), it became widely known by both the student body and faculty in the Franklin Middle School that Askins and (the girl) shared a mutual affection for each other that exceeded a professional teacher-pupil relationship,” the complaint states.
A response to the suit filed by the defendants stated, “the answering defendants deny that Askins engaged in ‘open, notorious and obvious’ contact with the minor plaintiff. After reasonable investigation, the answering defendants lack sufficient information to determine the truth of the remaining allegations and, therefore, they are denied.”
“It is denied that it became widely known by the faculty that Askins and minor plaintiff shared a mutual affection for one another or that their relationship exceeded an appropriate relationship. After reasonable investigation these defendants lack sufficient information to determine the truth of the remaining allegations and, therefore, they are denied,” the response continues.
The response said, “it is specifically denied that the answering defendants were ever aware of any improper contact, touching or other interaction between Askins and minor plaintiff prior to Askin’s arrest. After reasonable investigation, the answering defendants lack sufficient information to determine the truth of the remaining allegations and, therefore, they are denied.”
The response also denied that “representatives of the District possessed knowledge or information prior to May 1, 2017 that would have indicated that they should contact law enforcement.”
Cohlhepp contacted Franklin-based State Police on May 1, 2017, to report the allegations of inappropriate contact.
Franklin school board members voted in November 2019 to sever ties with Dye at the completion of her contract in June. Dye told the board this week that she would be leaving her position as superintendent on Friday, January 17.
Dye will take a leave of absence effective Saturday, January 18, through June 30 when her contract ends. She intends to officially announce her retirement at that point.
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