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Montgomery County Board of Education v. Horace Mann Insurance Co.11/10/2004
The Circuit Court for Montgomery County determined that the Montgomery County Board of Education was required by law to defend one of its teachers against a tort claim filed by a former student and that it was liable to the private insurance company that ultimately provided that defense for having declined to do so. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed the declaratory and monetary judgment against the board (Board of Education v. Mann, 154 Md. App. 502, 840 A.2d 220 (2003)), and we granted cross-petitions for certiorari to review those decisions. We shall affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.
BACKGROUND
In February, 1998, a former student in the Montgomery County school system, using the name John Doe, filed suit in U.S. District Court against the county school board, the principal (or former principal) of Wood Middle School, and Barbara Robbins, a teacher (or former teacher) at that school. The essence of the complaint was that, while a student at Wood from 1989 to 1993, Doe, then a pre-teen, was in a mentoring program in which Ms. Robbins acted as his mentor and that Ms. Robbins abused her professional relationship with him in a variety of ways, including her engagement in a sexual relationship with him. We are concerned here only with the action against Ms. Robbins.
The complaint alleged, in preliminary paragraphs applicable to all of the claims against Ms. Robbins, that in the course of more than three years, she "repeatedly, sexually abused Doe by having vaginal and other forms of sex with him" and that she "abused her special relationship with Doe in numerous, inappropriate ways." Doe complained, " ore specifically," that she called him, bought him gifts, sent food to his home, invited him into the bedrooms and other rooms of her home, sent him love cards, wrote him love letters, provided him with transportation, and frequently had vaginal and other forms of sex with him. He added that Robbins "intentionally and inappropriately interfered with his parents and guardians by inappropriately blending and confusing the roles of mentor, teacher, lover, friend and parent" and that, as a result of her wrongful acts, Doe suffered severe mental and emotional distress and economic and psychic damage.
Maryland Code, § 4-105 of the Education Article requires county school boards to carry comprehensive liability insurance to protect the board and its agents and employees but permits the boards to satisfy that requirement through a self-insurance program. The Montgomery County school board elected to become part of the self-insurance program established by Montgomery County pursuant to Maryland Code, title 19, subtitle 6 of the Insurance Article and Montgomery County Code, § 20-37.
Section 4-104(d) of the Education Article independently requires the board to provide counsel for teachers (and other employees) with respect to claims made against them if (1) the conduct complained of was in the performance of the teacher's duties, within the scope of employment, and without malice; and (2) " he board determines that [the teacher] was acting within [his/her] authorized official capacity in the incident."
The county self-insurance program in which the board participates also provides for defending claims. County Code, § 20-37(c) requires the insurance program generally to provide for the defense of claims, and § 20-37(e)(2) more specifically requires the county attorney to provide a defense for claims against a participating agency or its officials or employees. There are a number of explicit and implicit conditions to the coverage provided by the county program. Section 20-37(c) authorizes the county to provide insurance to compensate
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