NSFW
On June 7, 2018, a former student of the Dalton School filed a lawsuit alleging that former Headmaster Gardner P. Dunnan sexually assaulted her while she was living in his home in the fall of 1986.
Dunnan denied the allegations in a statement issued the same day.
According to the complaint, in 1986, plaintiff “J.S.” was 14 years old and lived with her father in Brooklyn. J.S.’s father’s then-girlfriend worked at Dalton. J.S. and her father met Dunnan at his summer home in upstate New York and expressed interest in the school. Shortly after the meeting, J.S. was offered admission to Dalton, free tuition, and room and board at Dunnan’s apartment on East 85th Street in Manhattan. Dunnan told J.S. that this would allow her to avoid a long commute, and she could help out around the house. There was no formal application process.
J.S. moved into a spare room in Dunnan’s apartment in September 1986. Dunnan and his wife were kind to J.S. in the beginning, but “this initial sense of home and stability” was “shattered” when Dunnan sexually assaulted her on four separate occasions over the next several months, according to the complaint.
The alleged incidents
In the first incident, Dunnan called J.S. over to him as she passed through the living room wrapped in a towel after taking a shower. He pulled her on top of him, pulled her towel off, and groped her until she pushed him away and fled to her room.
The second incident occurred at Dunnan’s second home on the Jersey Shore. J.S. fell asleep on the couch and woke up to find Dunnan lying on top of her fondling her breasts.
In the third incident, Dunnan forcibly kissed J.S. in the kitchen.
The fourth incident occurred when Dunnan entered J.S.’s bedroom, climbed on top of her, and thrust his genitals against her genitals through their clothes. Dunnan got up and left when his wife walked by in the hallway. J.S. heard shouting from the other room, and when she walked out, Dunnan’s wife told her that she had to leave.
J.S.’s father picked her up that night but she didn’t tell him what had happened. J.S. transferred to another school shortly afterwards.
Dalton School accused of negligence
J.S. is requesting a trial by jury, and seeking compensatory and punitive damages from both Dunnan and the Dalton School.
“Dalton turned a blind eye to this sexual abuse, permitting Dunnan to abuse J.S. over the course of several months and acting negligently in hiring, training, and failing properly to supervise Dunnan.”
The complaint states that Dunnan was forced to resign in 1997, “prompted in part by his affair with a married female teacher at the school”. It cites a New York Times article about his resignation from March 1997. The complaint goes on to say that another female student lived with Dunnan and his family prior to J.S.
J.S.’s attorneys argue that her lawsuit falls within the statute of limitations because she only discovered her psychological injuries within the last two years, after the emergence of the #MeToo movement.