Former Myers Park High student files appeal in sexual assault lawsuit

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – A former Myers Park High School student is appealing her case after a Mecklenburg County jury ruled the school district did not act with ‘deliberate indifference’ in the handling of her 2015 sexual assault.

The notice of appeal says Doe will challenge a number of rulings made by the judge in the case, including the decision to dismiss the city during trial and the instructions given to the jury before they deliberated.

The notice of appeal was filed on behalf of the former student, identified as ‘Jane Doe,’ on Thursday.

She filed a lawsuit against Charlotte-Mecklenburg and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in November 2018, three years after the then 17-year-old said a male classmate pulled her into the woods near the school and raped her.

Jane Doe claimed the school district and the police department improperly handled her sexual assault.

Last month, following days of court hearings, the jury found the school didn’t handle the report with deliberate indifference – the standard needed for the plaintiff to win – but did find that the student had been sexually assaulted.

Prior to the jury’s decision, a judge dismissed the CMPD from the lawsuit. That ruling came after the former student testified in court,

The case first came to light through a WBTV investigation in the weeks following the incident.

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