By Riley Board
Copyright centralmaine
Attorneys for a Bath boarding school accused of negligence and forced labor are asking a judge to dismiss the federal class action lawsuit filed against the school this summer.
The Massachusetts-based firm Justice Law Collaborative and Maine-based Island Justice Law sued the Hyde School and several of its leaders in U.S. District Court, alleging they violated human trafficking, forced labor and negligence laws.
Shortly after the suit was filed, the Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram published an investigation that included interviews with eight former students who said they experienced emotional and physical abuse, neglect and labor as punishment at Hyde, which was founded in 1966 and advertises a character-based education.
The school has denied all of the claims.
Tuesday’s motion argues that Jessica Fuller, the sole named plaintiff, lacks standing to bring the lawsuit. Fuller attended Hyde in 2014 and 2015 and alleged that in her time at the school she was physically restrained and forced to do manual labor as punishment.
Hyde’s attorneys argue that her claims about forced labor do not constitute unlawful coercion under the law, that not all of the defendants worked at Hyde during the time she attended and that the statute of limitations for her claims of negligence has expired.
Attorneys for Fuller have until Oct. 28 to respond to the motion to dismiss.
They have been seeking class action status for more than 100 individuals they say would fall under the class, but that status still needs to be approved by a judge.
Since the lawsuit was filed, the Press Herald has spoken with more than 30 former students and family members who say they experienced or witnessed abuse over decades at the private boarding school.
Many others have defended Hyde, saying they received a transformative education. The alumni association paid to take out a full-page advertisement in the Press Herald in July signed by hundreds of former students, parents and faculty that said the way the school had been depicted in recent interviews and on social media did not reflect “the school, the philosophy, or the people.”
This story will be updated