Key things to know about new lawsuit against Sonoma Academy

A dozen female graduates of Sonoma Academy, the prestigious Santa Rosa prep school, sued the campus, two former administrators and two former teachers on Friday, alleging they endured sexual assault, harassment and other staff and student misconduct while they were students.

The sweeping case, filed by famed attorney Gloria Allred, is the latest of three now pending against the school and its leaders over alleged failures to protect students over most of its 21 year history.

Here is a rundown of the core allegations, named plaintiffs and defendants in the case, and why the suit is immediately significant.

Allegations of negligence

The 81-page suit presents the most detailed case yet against the school alleging campus leaders were negligent in safeguarding female students against abuse and harassment by school employees.

It relies heavily on a 49-page independent investigation published by the school in November 2021 to outline instances in which school leaders, including founding Head of School Janet Durgin and Assistant Head of School Ellie Dwight were informed of staff misconduct and either failed to take action or did not do enough to address the reported misconduct.

“For nearly two decades, (Sonoma Academy) did not take reasonable steps to investigate numerous complaints of adult sexually improper conduct with minors that began in the early 2000s and lasted until nearly the year 2020,” the suit states.

Allegations of cover up

Further, the lawsuit is the first to accuse the school and its former administrators, Durgin and Dwight of actively engaging in a “cover-up” of reported incidents of sexual assault and harassment of female students by faculty and male students.

In cases where the allegations included reports of alleged sexual assault, including reports of adult staff having sexual relations with underage students, school officials did not contact authorities, the school’s investigators found.

“Sonoma Academy … did nothing to protect the Plaintiffs, inform them of the risk, and further, actively concealed this information from the Plaintiffs and their families,” the lawsuit states.

The defendants

The case names Sonoma Academy, an elite, private coed high school on a state-of-the-art campus below Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa. The school is an academic powerhouse, with most of its graduates going on to leading colleges and universities. Annual tuition this year is $49,900.

The suit also names former longtime humanities teacher Marco Morrone, who is accused of inappropriate conduct toward students that included grooming and touching. The school’s outside investigator, New York-based firm Debevoise & Plimpton, concluded Morrone had acted inappropriately with 34 students during his 18-year tenure at Sonoma Academy. He was fired in 2020.

It names Adrian Belic, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and guest instructor on campus in 2004. He is accused of sexual assault. The lawsuit alleges, in graphic detail, that Belic developed a relationship with a female student who was 15 years old at the time. She alleges Belic engaged in sexual acts with her for which she was too young to legally consent.

“Defendants Morrone and Belic used their authority and positions of trust to exploit Plantiffs sexually and emotionally. Many of their sexually abused students were young, vulnerable and under their and (Sonoma Academy’s) direct supervision and control. The victims were often unaware that the conduct of Morrone and Belic was sexually abusive,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also names Durgin, the founding head of school, who retired in 2020, and Dwight, who resigned at the end of 2021.

Both knew of inappropriate staff behavior but did not respond with urgency or sufficient follow-up, according to school investigators. They have issued public apologies.

Durgin in November 2021 apologized for “any missteps” by her administration but disputed other key findings in the school investigation.

“Young people — and our school — have been hurt on my watch and that cannot be excused,” Dwight said in a statement upon her resignation. “Sorry is not strong enough.”

The plaintiffs

Four of the named plaintiffs in the new case — Linnet Vacha, Cleo Wilde, Savnnah Turley and Morgan Apostle — are among the original seven members of the Athena Project, a group formed to press the school for greater transparency and action on the harassment and abuse claims.

Seven other plaintiffs are identified as Jane Does. The Press Democrat is not identifying a 12th plaintiff named in the suit because she is the victim of alleged sexual assault.

The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory, special and punitive damages to be determined at trial against the school and other defendants, as well as attorneys’ fees.

Significance of case

The case is the most detailed and explosive of three civil suits now alleging Sonoma Academy and its leaders failed to protect female students from staff misconduct and abuse over nearly two decades.

It poses a daunting new legal and financial threat to Sonoma Academy, which reported net assets of $104 million, including $61 million tied to land, buildings and equipment, according to tax records filed in 2021.

Allred, a legal crusader over four decades, specializes in cases of women’s rights and discrimination and has represented a wide array of celebrity clients in high-profile cases.

Most recently she represented three victims of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein. She also represented the family of Nicole Brown Simpson in the 1994-95 O.J. Simpson murder trial, as well as Amber Frey, the former girlfriend of Scott Peterson during his notorious murder trial.

The other two civil cases pending against the school include a December 2021 suit that involved several unnamed graduates alleging staff misconduct and a class action case filed in June seeking refunds for Sonoma Academy graduates who felt they were misled about their safety.

Contact Staff Writer Martin Espinoza: 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.