A 6-person jury determined Friday that a George Washington High School counselor didn't suffer any damage to her reputation or privacy in a series of incidents stemming from the sexual assault of a student during the 2014-15 school year.
It took members of the jury about 40 minutes to determine GW Principal George Aulenbacher sent an email in March 2015 about GW Counselor Mary "Kackie" Eller's job performance to faculty and staff at the school, but they determined the information in the email was truthful and therefore didn't meet the standard of being defamatory against Eller. They also determined that Eller's reputation was not affected by a suspension from her job in beginning in February 2015, when she was under investigation by school district officials for not reporting the sexual assault of a student to law enforcement.
The jury members also determined that while Eller might have been portrayed in a false light or her privacy was compromised by the email, they determined Aulenbacher was not being reckless or sharing any information about her that he knew to be false when he sent the note.
The verdict capped a four-day trial initiated by a lawsuit against Kanawha County schools from Eller, who has been a counselor in Kanawha County Schools for more than 30 years, saying Aulenbacher had sought to have her retire from GW since he became principal in 2010.
At issue in the trial was Eller's Feb. 2015 suspension and an email sent by Aulenbacher on March 9, 2015, which included, among other aspects of her job performance, information about issues with transcripts kept by Eller that were discovered during her suspension via reports from students in her care as well as other counselors.
Eller said during testimony Friday she did not report the sexual assault of a student to law enforcement, Aulenbacher or the student's parents after hearing about it in late Oct. 2015.
Eller's attorney, Jim Cagle, argued Eller never should have been suspended because it was determined that she legally wasn't required to report the assault to law enforcement, and he said the efforts to force Eller out continued after her suspension ended because her ability to alter student transcripts and talk to students was limited by district officials.
"This case was one about a reputation of Kackie Eller, the minutia of her reputation by virtue of (school officials') acts, their omissions and what that's done to this woman, who's given her life over to working with our children as a counselor in our school system," Cagle said during his closing arguments.
Eller also said in her lawsuit Aulenbacher sought to embarrass her by sending the email, which outlined issues in some student transcripts as well as issues with students filing out FAFSA applications and other issues, to faculty and staff at the school. She also said he meant to shame her by putting her in an office in a high-traffic area of the administrative wing of GW when her suspension with pay ended in March 2015.
Aulenbacher's attorney, Michael Dunham, argued Aulenbacher admitted to his mistake in sending the email about Eller to faculty and staff. Aulenbacher testified Tuesday he meant to send the email to a vice principal at the school, but the auto-fill function in his email account led to him sending it to faculty and staff.
Dunham said Friday Eller never said in her testimony that the issues in the email were false, and he said she never took responsibility for the issues outlined in the email, instead blaming the students for them.
"I said Mr. Aulenbacher owned sending that email," Dunham said during his closing arguments. "Kackie Eller owns nothing. It's never her fault. There's always an excuse."
Dunham and attorney Louann Cyrus also argued testimony from current and former GW employees showed Eller's reputation had not suffered because of the suspension and that she'd not suffered any financial damage because she was suspended with pay and still is an employee at the school.
They also said that at the time of Eller's suspension, state law regarding when school administrators were required to report sexual assault of students to law enforcement was interpreted in a way that made Eller potentially subject to criminal charges. However, members of the West Virginia Legislature and Kanawha County Prosecutor Charles Miller determined during her suspension that the law was worded in a way that provided a loophole about reporting sexual assault that led to no criminal charges being filed against Eller.
Miller testified Friday that lawmakers took steps to clarify the law's language during the 2015 legislative session.
Reach Lacie Pierson at lacie.pierson@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @laciepierson on Twitter.