Background
Justin Sell began working at Dos Pueblos High School as an assistant football coach and part-time security guard around 2007. There were early warning signs, including complaints from parents about the time Sell was spending with their sons. The football coach also made several official complaints to school administrators that Sell was eating lunch with freshman boys instead of working and continued to spend time with specific students - including one of the John Does who would later file lawsuits against the school district. In 2008 Sell punched a student in the face - an incident where law enforcement was called. Nonetheless, he was promoted to full-time security guard. In 2010, the football coach ended his contract as an assistant coach due to his misconduct, but he remained on campus with full access to and power over students.
In 2010, the parents of John Doe 1 also made an official complaint to the school, which administrators did not escalate to law enforcement, in violation of their legal obligation to do so.
In 2011 the school district transferred Sell to another high school, and a few months later entered into a confidential agreement that allowed Sell to resign instead of being fired.
Sell’s misconduct became public in 2013 when he was arrested on felony stalking and sexual assault charges after two teenage students filed police reports. Following the arrest Sell pled no contest to sexual abuse, served one year in prison, five years of felony probation, and is registered for life with the sex offender registry.
Escalating Abuse
John Doe 2 presented evidence at trial of a pattern of grooming, stalking, sexual abuse, and threats of blackmail. Sell gave the teenager gifts and snacks at first, then escalated to massages when the child was injured wrestling, including touching him inappropriately in front of other students. Sell eventually got the student off campus and sexually assaulted him.
Attorneys for the John Does, Natalie Weatherford and John Taylor of Taylor Ring law firm, demonstrated numerous instances where Dos Pueblos High School was made aware of or should have been aware of, Sell’s violence and sexual misconduct against students in general, and John Doe 2 specifically.
Ongoing Litigation
All three John Does filed lawsuits against the school district in 2021. In October 2023, the Court denied a motion brought by the plaintiffs to consolidate the three cases for trial pertaining to Sell’s misconduct under California Code of Civil Procedure § 1048(a). The plaintiffs argued that so much of the evidence in the cases was the same, including testimony by the same experts, that it would take unnecessary resources to try each case separately. The District argued that consolidating the trials would confuse the issues of liability related to the school district. The Court accepted the District’s argument, holding that although the patterns of abuse were similar, the specific acts of abuse in each case merited separate consideration at trial.
The jury award of $25 million in John Doe 2’s lawsuit followed a three-week trial ending on December 8, 2023. The lawsuits filed by John Does 1 and 3 are ongoing.
The law firm representing the John Does, Taylor Ring, focuses on representing children and adults in sexual harassment, abuse, assault, and misconduct claims. Harry Harrison and Adrian Gargas of Tyson Mendes represented the Santa Barbara Unified School District through their insurance carrier.
Takeaways
Although this is the largest jury verdict against the Santa Barbara Unified School District, many other claims have been made against the school, which attorneys say demonstrates a pattern of negligence by administrators in the school district. As states continue to recognize the long-lasting harm caused by child sexual abuse, these lawsuits will continue to be brought against institutions that ignored abuses in decades past. Attorneys working with school districts can use lessons in these cases to help schools avoid past mistakes and protect students in the future.
