Manly, Stewart & Finaldi and Greer & Rineer announced Second Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against Fullerton School District

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Oct 01, 2015, 12:15 ET

FULLERTON, Calif., Oct. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorneys representing a second victim of child sexual abuse allegedly committed by a teacher at Nicolas Junior High School have filed a lawsuit against Fullerton Unified School District, Nicolas Junior High School and the teacher, Melissa Lindgren.

Plaintiff's attorneys John Manly and Kathryn Greer called this lawsuit, "One more example of a school district attempting to cover-up the misconduct of a teacher and administrators at the expense of students." Ms. Greer and her partner, Allegra Rineer filed suit against the District in December 2014 on behalf of another alleged 13 year old victim of Lindgren.

Lindgren, an eighth grade math teacher at Nicolas Junior High School, was arrested by the police in February 2014 and charged with multiple felonies including lewd acts on a child under 14 and distributing child pornography. Her criminal case is pending.

Following her arrest, the Fullerton Unified School District provided an official press release stating, in relevant part, that Lindgren was taken into police custody "upon admitting felony sexual misconduct with two male students," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that officials at Nicolas Junior High School received numerous reports of misconduct by Lindgren including reports that she was having a sexual affair with a staff member, was seen engaging in heated and emotional conversations with students including Plaintiff and held "drugs and other inappropriate and illegal materials for students."

The lawsuit further alleges that Lindgren had a sexual relationship with her then 13 year old student during the 2011-2012 school year which began with inappropriate sexual communications including pornographic text messages, photos and videos, and escalated to kissing, fondling, oral copulation, and sexual intercourse.

The child's mother confronted the Nicolas Junior High School Principal and Vice Principal and expressed her concerns about Lindgren's inappropriate behavior. Two days later she received a call from the Vice Principal who informed her that he had investigated the issue and there was no evidence that Lindgren was sexually involved with Plaintiff but he would "watch her under a microscope."

Plaintiff's attorney, John Manly of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, said, "The Fullerton School District and its employees ignored all of the complaints against Melissa Lindgren and the warning signs of child sexual abuse. The District had a responsibility to bring Lindgren to justice by reporting information about her misconduct to students, parents and law enforcement and they failed in this important responsibility."

Manly, Stewart & Finaldi is California's leading sexual and harassment plaintiff's law firm. They reached a 139 million dollar settlement against the Los Angeles Unified School District in the 2014 Miramonte case, the largest sex abuse settlement against a public school district in history.

Please let us know if you would like a copy of the complaint.

SOURCE Manly, Stewart & Finaldi