Court Opinion

ID: 9384376
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-03 18:01:04.635005+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:52.723362
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-30481     Document: 00516698276         Page: 1     Date Filed: 04/03/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit                         United States Court of Appeals
                                                                          Fifth Circuit

                                                                        FILED
                                                                     April 3, 2023
                                  No. 22-30481
                                                                   Lyle W. Cayce
                                Summary Calendar
                                                                        Clerk

   Brittany A. Kirkpatrick, Individually and on behalf of
   KG; Quentin Paul Greene, Individually and on behalf of
   KG,

                                                           Plaintiffs—Appellants,

                                       versus

   School Board of Lafayette Parish; Youngsville Middle
   School; Anna Ellington, on behalf of her minor child
   GE,

                                                         Defendants—Appellees.

                  Appeal from the United States District Court
                     for the Western District of Louisiana
                           USDC No. 6:20-CV-1612

   Before Jones, Haynes, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*

          *
            Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
   opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
   circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 22-30481      Document: 00516698276           Page: 2     Date Filed: 04/03/2023

                                     No. 22-30481

          Plaintiffs in this case allege that G.E, a seventh-grade student at
   Youngsville Middle School, made inappropriate comments to and touched
   the thigh of K.G., a fellow seventh grader. After an investigation, the School
   Board briefly suspended G.E. and ordered him to stay away from K.G. Later,
   in response to a complaint from K.G.’s parents, the school also changed
   K.G.’s schedule so that she would no longer share a class with G.E. The only
   subsequent interaction that the two students had was occasionally seeing
   each other in the halls. Plaintiffs allege that G.E. would smile at K.G. and
   laugh as he passed.
          K.G.’s parents brought a Title IX case for student-on-student
   harassment against Youngsville Middle School, the School Board of
   Lafayette Parish, and G.E.’s mother, Anna Ellington. The district court
   granted summary judgment to the defendants on the grounds that the alleged
   harassment was not “severe and pervasive” and that the school was not
   “deliberately indifferent” to the harassment. See Sanches v. Carrollton-
   Farmers Branch Indep. Sch. Dist., 647 F.3d 156, 165 (5th Cir. 2011). After
   dismissing all federal law claims on this basis, the district court declined to
   exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims
   against Ellington.
          After reviewing the arguments of both parties and the record, this
   court agrees that the plaintiffs failed to state a Title IX claim. With no federal
   claims left to consider, the district court did not abuse its discretion by
   declining to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims. See
   St. Germain v. Howard, 556 F.3d 261, 263–64 (5th Cir. 2009).
          Therefore, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. We find
   no reversible error of law or fact and affirm essentially for the reasons stated
   in the memorandum ruling of the district court.

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