# Moore v. Portland Public Schools

> Court of Appeals of Oregon · September 27, 2023 · 328 Or. App. 391

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10610438

## Case

- **Court:** Court of Appeals of Oregon
- **Decided:** September 27, 2023
- **Citations:** 328 Or. App. 391
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion
- **Judges:** Nakamoto, S. J.
- **Cited by:** 8 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10610438

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- explaining that the notice must “provide sufficient facts about the places and circumstance of the underlying events to give defendants an opportunity to investigate the alleged tort promptly and ascertain the facts” (quotation marks omitted)

## Opinion text

391

Argued and submitted October 5, 2021; dismissal of Moore plaintiffs’ First
Claim, Count 2, for battery that occurred within the notice period reversed;
dismissal of Demma’s First Claim, Count 2, for battery reversed; dismissal
of Moore plaintiffs’ Second Claim for hostile work environment that occurred
within the notice period reversed; dismissal of Conley’s Fourth Claim for dis-
ability discrimination reversed; remanded for further proceedings; otherwise
affirmed September 27, 2023

Joyce MOORE,
an individual;
Virginia Ferrer-Burgett, an individual;
Cassie Gamez, an individual;
Arline Weaver, an individual;
Sarah Conley, an individual;
Debra Meskimen, an individual;
Angela Gonci, an individual;
and Julie Manzella, an individual,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS,
Public School District #1 a public entity;
Mary Pearson, an individual;
Michael Laframboise, an individual;
Theresa Stubbs, an individual;
and Andres Porter-Lopez, an individual,
Defendants-Respondents,
and
Kristen WEILER,
Defendant.
Multnomah County Circuit Court
18CV49922; A173665 (Control)
Theresa DEMMA,
an individual,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS,
Public School District #1, a public entity;
Reiko Williams, an individual;
Jon Williams, an individual;
Teresa Stubbs, an individual;
392 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

Karly Lefferts, an individual;
and Michael Conn, an individual,
Defendants-Respondents.
Multnomah County Circuit Court
19CV26384; A174162
537 P3d 544

This consolidated appeal arises out of two cases, Moore et al. v. Portland
Public Schools et al. (Case No. 18CV49922) and Demma v. Portland Public Schools
et al. (Case No. 19CV26384). Each case was brought by plaintiffs who worked
as paraeducators in special education classrooms against defendant Portland
Public Schools (PPS) and several individual defendants who, like plaintiffs, are
employed by PPS. Plaintiffs appeal the final judgments, with plaintiffs in Moore
assigning as error (1) the dismissal of a portion of their claims for failure to pro-
vide adequate formal tort claims notices; (2) the dismissal of battery claims for
failure to state a claim against PPS; (3) the dismissal of battery and disability
discrimination claims for timeliness; (4) the dismissal of hostile work environ-
ment claims based on sexual harassment for failure to state a claim; and (5)
the dismissal of the individual defendants and substitution of PPS as the sole
defendant. Plaintiff Demma challenges only the dismissal of her battery claim.
Held: The trial court did not err in finding that the tort claims notices did not
specify the places and circumstances of the alleged torts, a requirement in ORS
30.275 for notice of claims against a public body. For that reason, claims of tor-
tious conduct that occurred more than 180 days before each complaint was filed
were untimely. ORS 30.275(2) and (3)(c). The trial court erred in concluding that
plaintiffs failed to state battery claims for which PPS could be held liable; a the-
ory of direct liability applied in this case. For that reason, the dismissal of bat-
tery claims that fell within the notice period was also erroneous. Dismissal of
the disability discrimination claim was erroneous because plaintiffs’ allegations
created a question of fact whether the claim accrued within the notice period.
The trial court erred in concluding that plaintiffs did not allege ultimate facts
establishing a claim of sex discrimination constituting a hostile work environ-
ment; harassment “based on sex” is not precluded by allegations that individuals
of multiple sexes experience the same harassment. Finally, the trial court erred
in dismissing the individual defendants because plaintiffs made sufficient alle-
gations that, if true, allow a factfinder to infer that defendants’ conduct “occurred
substantially [outside] the time and space limits authorized by the employment,”
that the conduct was not “of a kind which the employee was hired to perform,” and
that defendants’ conduct was a cause of plaintiffs’ alleged injuries. Chesterman v.
Barmon, 305 Or 439, 442, 753 P2d 404 (1988).
Dismissal of Moore plaintiffs’ First Claim, Count 2, for battery that occurred
within the notice period reversed; dismissal of Demma’s First Claim, Count 2,
for battery reversed; dismissal of Moore plaintiffs’ Second Claim for hostile
work environment that occurred within the notice period reversed; dismissal of
Conley’s Fourth Claim for disability discrimination reversed; remanded for fur-
ther proceedings; otherwise affirmed.

Leslie G. Bottomly, Judge. (Limited Judgment June 12,
2020)
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 393

Nan G. Waller, Judge. (Limited Judgment February 13,
2020)
Rebecca Cambreleng argued the cause for appellants.
Also on the briefs were Crispin Marton Cambreleng and
Alana G. I. Simmons and The Dalton Law Firm.
Michael Porter argued the cause for respondents. Also
on the brief were Ivan Resendiz Gutierrez and Miller Nash
Graham & Dunn LLP.
Caitlin Mitchell and Johnson Johnson Lucas & Middleton
PC and Elizabeth C. Savage and Karmel Savage, PC, filed
the brief amicus curiae for Oregon Trial Lawyers Association.
J. Aaron Landau, Sharon A. Rudnick and Harrang Long
Gray Rudnick PC filed the brief amicus curiae for Oregon
School Boards Association.
Janet M. Schroer, Ruth A. Casby and Hart Wagner LLP
filed the brief amici curiae for League of Oregon Cities and
Association of Oregon Counties.
Before Egan, Presiding Judge, and Lagesen, Chief Judge,
and Nakamoto, Senior Judge.*
NAKAMOTO, S. J.
Dismissal of Moore plaintiffs’ First Claim, Count 2, for bat-
tery that occurred within the notice period reversed; dismissal
of Demma’s First Claim, Count 2, for battery reversed; dismissal
of Moore plaintiffs’ Second Claim for hostile work environment
that occurred within the notice period reversed; dismissal of
Conley’s Fourth Claim for disability discrimination reversed;
remanded for further proceedings; otherwise affirmed.

______________
* Lagesen, C. J., vice DeHoog, J. pro tempore.; Nakamoto, S. J., vice DeVore, S. J.
394 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

NAKAMOTO, S. J.
This consolidated appeal arises out of two cases,
Moore et al. v. PPS et al. (Case No. 18CV49922) and Demma
v. PPS et al. (Case No. 19CV26384), brought by plaintiffs who
worked as paraeducators in special education classrooms
within defendant Portland Public Schools (PPS). Asserting
a range of claims, plaintiffs alleged that they repeatedly and
regularly were subjected to physical assaults, and in some
instances sexual assaults, by students, but, despite com-
plaints and entreaties to PPS and various individual employ-
ees of PPS named as defendants, defendants failed to correct
or ameliorate their working conditions.
In each case, the trial court dismissed the indi-
vidual defendants under ORS 30.265, the provision of the
Oregon Tort Claims Act (OTCA) that provides for a “sole
cause of action” against a public body for the torts of its
employees committed within the course and scope of their
employment. The trial courts then dismissed most of plain-
tiffs’ claims—including claims of employment discrimina-
tion and claims of battery—either because the claims were
untimely or because plaintiffs had failed to state a claim
upon which relief can be granted. For the reasons that
follow, we conclude that the trial court in Moore erred in
dismissing Conley’s disability discrimination claim and
plaintiffs’ sex discrimination claims based on a hostile work
environment theory and by substituting PPS for the individ-
ual defendants. We further conclude that both trial courts
in Moore and Demma erred by dismissing plaintiffs’ claims
that PPS is directly liable for battery. We otherwise affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
We begin by describing procedural background
facts for each case. We later discuss some of plaintiffs’ alle-
gations in more detail when analyzing their assignments
of error as to specific claims for employment discrimination
and for battery.
A. Moore et al. v. PPS et al.
Plaintiffs in Moore are eight female paraeducators
who were employed by PPS and worked in special education
classrooms. During the time period relevant to the claims,
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 395

plaintiffs Moore and Ferrer-Burgett worked at Woodlawn
Elementary School. The remaining plaintiffs, Conley, Gonci,
Meskimen, Manzella, Weaver, and Gamez, worked at either
Sunnyside Environmental School or Buckman Elementary
School.
On May 21, 2018, Moore, through her attorney, sent
an “ORS 30.275 Tort Claim Notice” to PPS. In it, she noti-
fied PPS of her intent to file one or more claims for damages
against PPS “and/or one or more of its officers, employees, or
agents.” The notice stated, in relevant part:
“Ms. Moore’s claims include negligence, intentional
infliction of emotional distress, discrimination, retaliation,
interference with workers’ compensation, and other viola-
tions of state law.
“Ms. Moore has been a loyal district employee for over
26 years. In the last few years she has been the victim of
appalling behavior by [PPS] including retaliation against
her for use of worker’s compensation, subjecting her to daily
sexual and physical assault and battery without recourse
or ways to report the attacks or to create a safe space, for
racial discrimination, and for knowingly, deliberately, and
with wanton and reckless disregard putting her in situa-
tions where there is a high likelihood of bodily injury.”
The same day, Ferrer-Burgett, through her attor-
ney, sent a similar tort claim notice to PPS. It stated, in
relevant part:
“Ms. Ferrer-Burgett’s claims include negligence, inten-
tional infliction of emotional distress, and other violations
of state law.
“Ms. Ferrer-Burgett has been a loyal district employee
and has over 20 years of experience working with children.
But in the last 2 years while working at Woodlawn she
has been the victim of appalling behavior by [PPS] includ-
ing daily sexual and physical assault and battery without
recourse or ways to report the attacks or to create a safe
space, and for knowingly, deliberately, and with wanton
and reckless disregard putting her in situations where
there is a high likelihood of bodily injury.”
Nearly six months later, on November 1, 2018,
Moore and Ferrer-Burgett filed this action against PPS
396 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

and two individual defendants, the principal of Woodlawn
Elementary School and a risk management employee for
PPS. Moore and Ferrer-Burgett alleged that “they were
subject to daily assaults and battery to their persons by
students, including sexual assaults and battery,” and they
asserted multiple claims for relief.
On December 10, 2018, the remaining plaintiffs,
through their attorneys, sent a tort claim notice to PPS. The
notice stated, in relevant part:
“The potential claims include general tort claims for
assault and battery, negligence, hostile work environment,
intentional infliction of emotional distress, retaliation and
other violations of state and/or federal law.
“Our clients, and many like them, continue to be the vic-
tims of appalling behavior by [PPS] including intentionally
subjecting them to daily sexual and physical assaults and
battery and for knowingly, deliberately, and with wanton
and reckless disregard putting them in situations where
there is a high likelihood of bodily injury.”
On January 28, 2019, plaintiffs filed a first amended
complaint in which they amended claims asserted by Moore
and Ferrer-Burgett and added claims by the other plaintiffs.
The amended complaint also dropped the risk management
employee as a defendant and added three other individ-
ual defendants: the senior director of special education for
PPS and the principal and vice-principal of PPS’s Pioneer
Program.
In the amended complaint, Moore and Ferrer-
Burgett again alleged that in the classrooms where they
worked, “they were subject to daily assaults and battery to
their persons by students, including sexual assaults and
battery.” Gamez and Weaver alleged that in the classrooms
where they worked, they “were repeatedly and consistently
assaulted by students over the years, and requested help
from administrators at every turn.” Conley, Meskimen,
Gonci, and Manzella alleged that in their classrooms, they
faced ongoing physical assaults from one particular student,
identified in the complaint as “Student B.” In addition to
being physically violent, student B, they alleged, acted out
sexually toward Conley, Meskimen, Gonci, and Manzella.
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 397

Several plaintiffs alleged that they experienced similar
assaultive conduct by two other specific students, identified
as “Student A” and “Student C,” as well as from other stu-
dents. Based on those facts, all plaintiffs in Moore alleged,
among other claims, (1) a claim for battery against PPS and
(2) an unlawful employment practices claim under ORS
659A.030 based on a hostile work environment against all
defendants.
Defendants moved to dismiss under former ORCP
21 A(1) (2018), renumbered as ORCP 21 A(1)(a) (2022), former
ORCP 21 A(8) (2018), renumbered as ORCP 21 A(1)(h) (2022),
and former ORCP 21 A(9) (2018), renumbered as ORCP 21
A(1)(i) (2022). Pertinent to this appeal, defendants asserted
that (1) ORS 30.265(3) required dismissal of the individual
defendants, because the complaint established that their
actions were within the scope of their employment with PPS
and, as a result, plaintiffs’ sole cause of action was against
PPS; (2) plaintiffs’ tort claims notices failed to identify the
“time, place, and circumstances giving rise to their claims,”
which ORS 30.275(4) mandates, requiring dismissal of any
claims based on conduct occurring more than 180 days
before the filing of the complaint; (3) plaintiffs failed to state
a claim for a hostile work environment under ORS 659A.030;
and (4) plaintiffs failed to state a claim for battery because
the gravamen of their claim was that PPS did not respond to
plaintiffs’ complaints that students had committed battery
against them, which is insufficient to establish the elements
of the intentional tort.
The trial court granted the motions. First, it granted
the motion to dismiss the individual defendants “because
[PPS] is the only proper defendant in accordance with the
sole cause of action provisions of the [Oregon Tort Claims
Act (OTCA)].”
Second, it determined that the tort claims notices
failed to adequately describe the time, place, and cir-
cumstances underlying plaintiffs’ claims as required by
ORS 30.275(4)(b). The court concluded that it consequently
“lacked subject matter jurisdiction” over claims that arose
“more than 180 days prior to the filing of the November 1,
2018 complaint for Plaintiffs Moore and Ferrer-Burgett, and
398 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

180 prior to the filing of the January 28, 2019 complaint for
Plaintiffs Conley, Gamez, Gonci, Manzella, Meskimen, and
Weaver.” The trial court’s determination had the effect of
time-limiting the claims because plaintiffs only satisfied the
notice requirement under the OTCA when they later com-
menced their action. See ORS 30.275(3)(c). Plaintiffs Moore
and Ferrer-Burgett sued on November 1, 2018, and so their
claims had to be based on events occurring within 180 days
before they filed the complaint, which is on or after May
5, 2018. For the six other plaintiffs in Moore, who sued on
January 28, 2019, their claims had to be based on events
occurring on or after August 1, 2018.
Third, the court dismissed the claim based on a hos-
tile work environment in its entirety. The court ruled that,
even for allegations that arose within the 180-day period
before the claims were asserted in the complaint, plaintiffs
“failed to state ultimate facts sufficient to constitute a hos-
tile work environment claim.”
Fourth, the trial court dismissed the battery claim,
concluding that the allegations were not sufficient to hold PPS
liable for batteries committed by students. The court reasoned
that the claim failed because plaintiffs had not alleged facts
that would show that PPS “intentionally assisted, directed,
[or] had knowledge that any student intended to engage in
offensive conduct towards the plaintiffs” and had not alleged
facts to show how “the offensive conduct of the students bene-
fited” PPS. The court ruled initially that it would allow plain-
tiffs leave to amend their complaint but, ultimately, entered a
limited judgment dismissing the battery and the hostile work
environment claims and dismissing the individual defen-
dants from the action. Plaintiffs appealed.
B. Demma v. PPS et al.
Demma taught in a special education classroom
at PPS’s Sabin Elementary School and, later, in a special
education classroom at Jason Lee Elementary School. On
January 7, 2019, through her attorney, Demma sent a tort
claim notice to PPS.
On June 14, 2019, Demma filed her action, naming
PPS and five individuals as defendants. Consistent with her
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 399

tort claims notice, Demma alleged that she had been subject
to ongoing physical violence and attacks by students at both
schools where she worked since the beginning of the 2018-19
school year. Demma also asserted multiple claims, including a
claim for battery based on the assaultive conduct by students.
As they did in the Moore case, defendants filed a
motion to dismiss and reiterated the same challenges to
Demma’s inclusion of individual defendants in the action,
to the adequacy of her tort claims notice, and to the suffi-
ciency of her claims. The trial court rejected PPS’s conten-
tion that Demma’s tort claims notice inadequately described
the time, place, and circumstances underlying her claim.
Otherwise, like the trial court in Moore, the court dismissed
the individual defendants and dismissed Demma’s hostile
work environment and battery claims. On Demma’s battery
claim, the trial court ruled that the allegations were insuf-
ficient to “impute the intentional tort to the Portland Public
Schools” and that Demma failed “to state ultimate facts suf-
ficient to constitute a claim.”
C. Consolidated Appeal
The two cases were consolidated for appeal. In their
opening brief, the Moore plaintiffs raise six assignments of
error; Demma joins only in the second assignment of error,
challenging the dismissal of her battery claim.
The Moore plaintiffs assign error to the trial court’s
rulings as follows:
• granting defendants’ motion to dismiss a portion of
all of the Moore plaintiffs’ claims for failure to pro-
vide adequate formal tort claims notices (third and
fourth assignments);
• granting defendants’ motions to dismiss plaintiffs’
battery claims for failure to state a claim (second
assignment), which Demma joins;
• granting defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs’
claims for battery and Conley’s claim for disability
discrimination on the ground that plaintiffs alleged
no actionable conduct within 180 days preceding
the filing of the complaints (sixth assignment);
400 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

• granting defendants’ motion for dismissal of the
hostile work environment claims for failure to state
a claim (first assignment); and
• dismissing the individual defendants and substitut-
ing PPS as the sole defendant by granting defen-
dants’ motion (fifth assignment).
II. ANALYSIS
A. The Sufficiency of the Tort Claim Notices
We begin with the third and fourth assignments
of error concerning the tort claims notices by the Moore
plaintiffs. Under the OTCA, a party may bring a tort claim
against a public body or an officer or employee of a public
body,1 but the party must give advance notice of the par-
ty’s intent to assert the claim, as provided in ORS 30.275.
See ORS 30.275(1) (no such action may be maintained
“unless notice of claim is given as required by this section”).
For torts other than wrongful death, the party must give
the public body notice of claim “within 180 days after the
alleged loss or injury.” ORS 30.275(2). The required notice of
claim may be satisfied in several different ways, including
by giving a formal notice of claim, ORS 30.275(3)(a), and by
“[c]ommencement of an action on the claim by or on behalf of
the claimant within the applicable period of time provided
in subsection (2),” ORS 30.275(3)(c).
The substantive requirements for a formal tort claims
notice are found in ORS 30.275(4). Plaintiffs bear “the burden
of proving that notice of claim was given as required.” ORS
30.275(7).2 In this case, the trial court in Moore determined
that the substance of plaintiffs’ formal tort claims notices was
deficient for failure to provide a “description of the time, place
and circumstances giving rise to the claim, so far as known to
the claimant,” as required by ORS 30.275(4)(b).
1
There is no dispute that PPS is a public body. See ORS 30.260(4)(a) (defining
a “public body” for purposes of ORS 30.275 by reference to ORS 174.109, which
defines a “public body” as “state government bodies, local government bodies and
special government bodies”).
2
We reject plaintiffs’ contention in their reply brief that the burden of proof
refers to a plaintiff’s burden of proof in a legal action and does not apply to the
sufficiency of formal tort claim notices. That position flies in the face of the plain
meaning of subsection (7).
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 401

The Moore plaintiffs challenge the trial court’s con-
clusion that their formal tort claims notices did not comply
with ORS 30.275(4)(b) and its consequent ruling dismissing
their claims to the extent that those claims were based on
conduct occurring more than 180 days before the filing of
their respective complaints. We first reject plaintiffs’ third
assignment, in which they contend that the trial court was
not authorized to resolve the issue of the adequacy of their
tort claims notices on a motion to dismiss.
Relying primarily on Voth v. Smith, 188 Or App
59, 69 P3d 1274 (2003), plaintiffs argue that the trial court
was required to wait until summary judgment to resolve
whether their tort claims notices were sufficiently detailed.
Voth, however, arose in a different procedural posture and
is not on point. In that case, the trial court dismissed the
complaint under ORCP 21 based on its determination that
the plaintiff “failed to allege timely tort claim notice.” Id. at
61 (emphasis added). On appeal, the defendants conceded
that the plaintiff’s allegations were adequate to withstand
a motion to dismiss and that the adequacy of the plaintiff’s
tort claim notice should be evaluated later on summary
judgment. Id. We accepted the concession without consid-
ering whether one of the other types of motions to dismiss
authorized by ORCP 21 would supply a mechanism for
assessing the adequacy of a tort claims notice. Voth did not
require the trial court to defer ruling on the adequacy of the
tort claims notices.
Unlike in Voth, PPS moved to dismiss under former
ORCP 21 A(1) on the ground that the court lacked subject
matter jurisdiction because of plaintiffs’ failure to pro-
vide adequate tort claims notice. See Curzi v. Oregon State
Lottery, 286 Or App 254, 265, 398 P3d 977, rev den, 362
Or 175 (2017) (failure to give adequate tort claims notice
deprives a court of subject matter jurisdiction). A challenge
to subject matter jurisdiction may be raised and resolved
through a motion to dismiss under former ORCP 21 A(1)(a):
“The following defenses may, at the option of the pleader,
be made by motion to dismiss: * * * lack of jurisdiction over
the subject matter.” Moreover, when the issue of subject
matter jurisdiction is raised by way of a motion to dismiss
402 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

under former ORCP 21 A(1)(a), the trial court may consider
evidence and resolve disputes of fact, so long as it does not
resolve factual disputes relating to the merits of the under-
lying claims. Munson v. Valley Energy Investment Fund, 264
Or App 679, 695, 333 P3d 1102 (2014). As a procedural mat-
ter, the trial court properly proceeded to the merits of defen-
dants’ challenge to the court’s subject matter jurisdiction
through their motion to dismiss, and so we reject plaintiffs’
third assignment of error.
In their fourth assignment of error, plaintiffs assert
that the trial court erroneously concluded that the Moore
plaintiffs’ tort claims notices did not supply “[a] descrip-
tion of the time, place and circumstances giving rise to the
claim, so far as known to the claimant,” as required under
ORS 30.275(4)(b). The trial court in Moore agreed with
defendants that each of the notices was deficient by describ-
ing only generalized claims about the particular plaintiff’s
experience of assault by students, reports and complaints
to defendants, and inaction by defendants, and not infor-
mation about the specific time, place, and circumstances of
each incident or even groups of incidents underlying their
allegations. Defendants argue that the trial court correctly
observed that such generalized information was insuffi-
cient to give defendants the opportunity to investigate and
address the claims, one of the purposes of the tort claims
notice.
Plaintiffs argue that their notices “substantially
complied” with the statutory requirements by providing
defendants with “enough relevant information for the time,
place, and circumstances” to undertake an investigation.
Citing Urban Renewal Agency v. Lackey, 275 Or 35, 40, 549
P2d 657 (1976), plaintiffs argue that substantial compliance
is all that is required. They also argue that sufficiency of a
tort claims notice “must be determined with the object of the
statute in mind, and technically deficient claims should not
be barred where the purpose of the statute is served.” Brown
v. Portland School Dist. #1, 291 Or 77, 81, 628 P2d 1183
(1981). In an amicus brief, the League of Oregon Cities (LOC)
counters that “substantial compliance” is only intended
to protect would-be plaintiffs from “technical traps” that
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 403

make providing notice and filing claims too onerous, such
as the wrong mailing method that the claimant employed
in Brown. In LOC’s view, the requirement to provide infor-
mation regarding time, place, and circumstances, “so far as
known to the claimant,” is not such a technical requirement.
Assuming without deciding that the standard
is substantial compliance with the requirements of ORS
30.275(4)(b), the Moore plaintiffs’ tort claim notices still fell
short. As all parties acknowledge, an important purpose
of the notice requirement is “to give the public body timely
notice of the tort and allow its officers an opportunity to
investigate the matters promptly and ascertain all the nec-
essary facts.” Urban Renewal, 275 Or at 41. Given that pur-
pose, at a minimum, a tort claims notice must supply suffi-
cient information about an alleged tort to “allow the public
body an opportunity to investigate the alleged tort promptly
and ascertain the facts before they become stale.” Humphrey
v. OHSU, 286 Or App 344, 352, 398 P3d 360 (2017). Here,
none of the tort claims notices in Moore provided sufficient
information for that purpose.
Each notice named the relevant plaintiff(s) and
indicated that “a claim for damages is, or will be, asserted
against Portland Public Schools and/or one or more of its
officers, employees, or agents.” The notices list the gen-
eral “potential claims” that may be brought and indicate
that those claims are based on the “appalling behavior by
Portland Public Schools,” including, for example, subjecting
plaintiffs “to daily sexual and physical assault and battery
without recourse or ways to report the attacks or to create
a safe space.” As for the time or times when that was occur-
ring, the notices did not pinpoint specific days, but specified
that assaults occurred “daily.” Ferrer-Burgett’s notice also
described that the events occurred over the past two years
and Moore’s notice stated that the events occurred over sev-
eral years. Those specifications provided the timeframe for
defendants and met a substantial compliance standard,
considering that plaintiffs notified defendants of “daily”
assaults and defendants, by virtue of the OTCA, knew that
plaintiffs had to give notice within 180 days after the tort
occurred.
404 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

However, plaintiffs’ tort claim notices failed to spec-
ify the places and circumstances of the alleged torts. Only
the tort claims notice from Ferrer-Burgett indicated which
school or schools were involved, and none refer to student
conduct or any specific event or action taken by anyone. A
reader of the notices would not be able to discern the per-
petrator or perpetrators of the alleged assaults, the physi-
cal locations of the alleged assaults, and who from PPS was
involved in subjecting plaintiffs to the students’ assaults.
Apart from giving defendants information about who they
might contact to learn more about the basis for the clams,
the tort claims notices did not provide sufficient facts about
the places and circumstances of the underlying events to
give defendants “an opportunity to investigate the alleged
tort promptly and ascertain the facts.” Humphrey, 286
Or App at 352. Although a tort claims notice is not designed
to be a comprehensive account of events on which a claim is
based, the legislature intended the statutory requirements
to be met: “No action * * * shall be maintained unless notice
of claim is given as required by this section.” ORS 30.275(1).
Because the formal notice requirements were not
met in Moore, defendants did not receive advance notice,
for purposes of the 180-day notice requirement, until plain-
tiffs commenced this action. See ORS 30.275(1) (requiring
advance notice of tort claims); ORS 30.275(2) (providing
180-day statute of limitations); ORS 30.275(3) (permitting
notice by, among other things, a tort claim notice or com-
mencement of an action). We affirm the trial court’s ruling
granting defendants’ motion to dismiss claims based on con-
duct occurring more than 180 days before the filing of the
complaint, based on inadequacy of the formal tort claims
notices by plaintiffs in Moore.
B. Whether Plaintiffs Stated Claims for Battery Against
PPS
We turn to plaintiffs’ contention that they stated
battery claims against PPS. Our review is for legal error.
Bohr v. Tillamook County Creamery Assn., 321 Or App 213,
217, 516 P3d 284 (2022). In conducting that review, we accept
the allegations in the complaint as true, as well as any rea-
sonable inferences that can be drawn from those allegations,
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 405

viewing those allegations and inferences in the light most
favorable to plaintiffs, the non-moving parties. Id.
To establish a civil battery claim in Oregon, the
plaintiff must prove that the act that brought about the
harm is “an act of volition on the actor’s part, and the actor
must have intended to bring about a harmful or offensive
contact or put the other party in apprehension thereof.” Doe
v. Lake Oswego School District, 353 Or 321, 329, 297 P3d
1287 (2013). Harmful contact “includes physical impair-
ment, physical pain, or illness.” Id. at 330. Offensive contact
is “contact that offends a reasonable sense of personal dig-
nity.” Id. Plaintiffs in both cases contend that PPS is liable
for battery committed by third-party actors, the students.
Plaintiffs in Moore alleged that “PPS intended to
cause a harmful or offensive physical contact or cause an
apprehension that harmful or offensive physical contact
would occur”; “PPS knew” that plaintiffs “were the vic-
tims of assault and battery to their persons on an ongoing
basis due to their constant reporting to school administra-
tors and the district administration”; “PPS did not follow
up on Plaintiffs’ reports of assault and battery, nor offer
Plaintiffs any support, solutions, training, protective gear,
or any assistance of any kind”; plaintiffs were harmed “by
the offensive physical contact of the students”; and “a spe-
cial relationship” existed between PPS and the students and
between PPS and plaintiffs. Plaintiff in Demma made the
same kinds of allegations.
In moving for dismissal, defendants characterized
plaintiffs’ battery claims as asserting an “ ‘aiding and assist-
ing’ theory of battery” as described in Walthers v. Gossett,
148 Or App 548, 553, 941 P2d 575 (1997). Defendants argued
that plaintiffs had failed to plead a viable aiding-and-as-
sisting claim of battery because they had failed to allege
(1) that the defendant “engaged in acts that facilitated
another’s torts, with the intent or knowledge that tortious
conduct would occur,” and (2) that the battery served a “pur-
pose of the corporation or [was within] the nature of the
acts the employees of the corporation are hired to perform.”
Walthers, 148 Or App at 558.
406 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

In response to defendants’ motion in Moore, plain-
tiffs argued that their battery claim was sufficient, because
they had alleged the following facts: that defendants
(1) were aware of, allowed, and condoned physical and sexual
violence against plaintiffs by students; (2) chose to continue
to expose staff, including plaintiffs, to interactions with vio-
lent students knowing that these interactions would result
in injury; (3) purposefully did not put in place any safety
protections against the offensive and harmful contact it
knew had occurred in the past and would continue to occur;
(4) knew that plaintiffs continued to be exposed to harmful
and offensive contact from violent students and did nothing
to protect plaintiffs from the offensive or harmful contact;
and (5) ignored plaintiffs’ repeated requests for help from
defendants, including repeated requests for safety gear,
reporting systems, training, and any other help defendants
could give, leaving plaintiffs with options to stay and be
battered or lose their jobs. Plaintiffs also alleged that they
have a special relationship with PPS. Plaintiffs argued that
those allegations established “that it was foreseeable that
Defendants’ intentional acts,” such as refusal to put in place
safety precautions and to investigate claims of assaults,
would result “in continued assaults and battery to Plaintiffs’
persons.” Plaintiffs argued that the tort of battery does not
require the defendant to be the one who actually engages
in the offensive contact, citing Denton v. Arnstein, 197 Or
28, 250 P2d 407 (1952); Friedrich v. Adesman, 146 Or App
624, 934 P2d 587 (1997); and Brown v. Far West Federal, 66
Or App 387, 674 P2d 1183 (1984).
Demma filed a shorter version of the response that
plaintiffs in Moore had filed to argue that her allegations
stated a battery claim. She asserted that the allegations
established that PPS employed her and “directed her work
and the tasks she performed,” that she was “forced to endure
violent students’ offensive and harmful conduct” as a conse-
quence, and that OSHA investigated and found that PPS
had failed to investigate injuries to prevent reoccurrence,
thereby indicating that PPS intended plaintiff to be repeat-
edly attacked and injured.
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 407

Plaintiffs’ allegations suggest two theories for hold-
ing PPS liable, and plaintiffs have argued in support of those
theories on appeal. First, citing Olsen v. Deschutes County,
204 Or App 7, 127 P3d 655, rev den, 341 Or 80 (2006), plain-
tiffs contend that PPS can be held directly liable, through
joint liability, for tortious conduct by the students.
That theory requires PPS’s breach of duty and its
substantial assistance or encouragement to the students
who physically or sexually assaulted plaintiffs. In Olsen,
the plaintiffs worked at a county respite care facility for the
mentally ill, caring for clients and assisting mental health
professionals. Id. at 9. One of the plaintiffs sued for assault
after the county admitted a known violent and aggres-
sive client to the facility who charged her in a threatening
manner. Id. at 25. We explained that, under Granewich v.
Harding, 329 Or 47, 985 P2d 788 (1999), and the Restatement
(Second) of Torts section 876 comment b (1979), a defendant
may be liable for another’s tort when the defendant knows
that the other’s “conduct constitutes a breach of duty and
gives substantial assistance or encouragement to the other
so to conduct himself.” Olsen, 204 Or App at 26. We rejected
the defendant’s contention that the trial court had erred in
denying its motion for directed verdict, concluding that the
evidence permitted the jury to determine that, by retain-
ing the client and “providing him with potential victims and
the opportunity to do harm, defendant, through its agents,
intentionally attempted to inflict harm on plaintiffs.” Id. at
25-26.
Similar to the facts in Olsen, the allegations in
these cases include that PPS knew that students were phys-
ically aggressive or violent and committing battery against
plaintiffs, had the authority to control the students and pro-
tect plaintiffs but failed to take any corrective action, and
intended to cause the harmful or offensive physical contact.
In her briefing, plaintiff Demma argues that the allegations
in her workers’ compensation and whistleblower retaliation
claims that defendants retaliated against her by “purposely
placing violent students in her classrooms” further support
her battery claim. Taking those allegations as true for pur-
poses of a motion to dismiss, we conclude that plaintiffs
408 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

adequately pleaded their theory that PPS is directly liable
for battery.
Plaintiffs also seek to hold PPS vicariously liable
for batteries committed by students. Plaintiffs point out case
law—for example, Vernonia Sch Dist 47J v. Acton, 515 US
646, 655-56, 115 S Ct 2386, 132 L Ed 2d 564 (1995)—in which
courts have observed that schools act “in loco parentis” for
some purposes when students are in their care during the
school day. Based on that common-law recognition of the “in
loco parentis” status of schools, plaintiffs argue that we should
hold that PPS is vicariously liable for the alleged batteries
committed by students in PPS classrooms, whether or not PPS
is directly liable based on its own actions and inactions.3
For three reasons, we are not persuaded that a
school district’s “in loco parentis” relationship with students,
as described in the case law cited by plaintiffs, makes the
district vicariously liable for intentional torts committed
by students. First, we have located no case holding that a
school district’s in loco parentis relationship with its stu-
dents makes the school district vicariously liable for batter-
ies or other intentional torts committed by students against
school employees. Our cases addressing the in loco parentis
relationship between schools and their students have treated
the relationship as one that imposes on the school district a
duty to protect and safeguard students, not one that would
make a school district vicariously liable to school employees
for the torts of students. See Pangle v. Bend-Lapine School
District, 169 Or App 376, 395, 10 P3d 275, rev den, 332 Or
558 (2000) (“School personnel act in a surrogate parent role,
insofar as student safety on high school campuses is con-
cerned.”); Jamshidnejad v. Central Curry School Dist., 198
Or App 513, 522-23, 108 P3d 671 (2005) (same). Although
we have recognized that a school standing in loco parentis
may have a right to control a minor child by detaining or
confining them, that duty flows from the school’s obligation
to provide appropriate educational opportunities in a safe
3
Plaintiffs also brought a negligence claim against PPS, alleging negligent
failure to protect plaintiffs from assaultive conduct by students. The trial court
dismissed that claim under ORS 30.265(6)(a) on the ground that the workers’
compensation scheme supplied plaintiffs with their exclusive remedy. The dis-
missal of that claim is not at issue on appeal.
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 409

environment for its students. See Simms v. School Dist. No. 1,
13 Or App 119, 124, 508 P2d 236, rev den (1973) (discussing
common law rule that teachers are not civilly liable for using
reasonable physical punishment to address student miscon-
duct); see also Jamshidnejad, 198 Or App at 522-23 (citing
Pangle to discuss school’s right to control student speech in
furtherance of the “school’s educational mission”). Nothing
in our case law suggests that a school’s in loco parentis rela-
tionship with its students imposes an obligation on it to
protect employees from students in a way that would make
the school district vicariously liable for the torts of students
committed against school employees.4
Second, plaintiffs’ proposed approach would result
in a school, acting in loco parentis under the common law,
having more expansive vicarious liability for a child’s torts
than an actual parent. In general, at common law, “a par-
ent is not liable for the torts of the child unless the parent
directed or ratified the act, took the benefit of it, or the child
acted as a servant of the parent.” Davis v. DuBosch, 283 Or
363, 366, 583 P2d 1133 (1978). Plaintiffs have not supplied
a justification for holding PPS vicariously liable when the
common law would not recognize vicarious parental liability
under the circumstances present here.
Third, plaintiffs’ proposed rule is at odds with
choices the legislature has made regarding parental liability
for a child’s torts. The legislature has—in a limited way—
abrogated the common-law rule regarding parental liability
for children’s torts. In part, ORS 30.765(1) provides that
“the parent or parents of an unemancipated minor child
shall be liable for actual damages to person or property
caused by any tort intentionally or recklessly committed by
such child. However, a parent who is not entitled to legal
custody of the minor child at the time of the intentional or
reckless tort shall not be liable for such damages.”
ORS 30.765(1). The statute then caps parental liability at
$7,500. The legislature could have enlarged the scope of

4
Plaintiffs have not developed an argument, in line with their allegation,
that some “special relationship” between PPS and plaintiffs (as opposed to one
between PPS and students) makes PPS vicariously liable for the torts of the
students.
410 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

parties liable for a child’s intentional tort beyond parents
having legal custody of the child, including those acting in
loco parentis, but it did not. The legislature’s express but
narrow abrogation of the common-law rule of parental
immunity for parents with legal custody is inconsistent with
plaintiffs’ expansive view of vicarious liability for a school
district. Adopting plaintiffs’ proposed rule of law would lead
to the anomalous result of a school district being vicariously
liable for a student’s torts because of its parent-like rela-
tionship with the student at school when the legislature
has retained the common-law rule of parental immunity
for actual parents who do not have legal custody of their
children. Accordingly, we hold that a school district’s in loco
parentis relationship with a student does not make the dis-
trict vicariously liable for a student’s torts committed while
the student is under the district’s supervision.
The trial court erred in dismissing the entirety of
plaintiffs’ battery claims for failure to state a claim upon
which relief can be granted. Plaintiffs in Moore and Demma
adequately alleged battery claims against PPS based on
their theory of PPS’s direct, as opposed to vicarious, liability.
C. Timeliness of Plaintiffs’ Battery and Disability Discrim-
ination Claims
As noted, all plaintiffs asserted battery claims
against PPS. Plaintiff Conley asserted a claim for disability
discrimination. The trial court concluded that those claims
were untimely insofar as they extended beyond 180 days
before the complaints were filed. Plaintiffs assign as error
the trial court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims for battery
and disability discrimination on those grounds. As pleaded,
according to plaintiffs, the facts underlying the claims show
a continuing pattern of conduct within the relevant time
period, which allows for allegations outside the 180-day lim-
itation period to form the basis of the claim under the con-
tinuing tort doctrine. We address the battery claims and the
disability discrimination claim separately.
1. Battery claims
We reject the application of the continuing tort
doctrine to plaintiffs’ battery claims. Discrete instances of
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 411

battery that are “separately actionable and not merely an
element of a single tort,” see Griffin v. Tri-Met, 112 Or App
575, 581-82, 831 P2d 42 (1992), aff’d in part and rev’d in part
on other grounds, 318 Or 500, 870 P2d 808 (1994), even if an
ongoing pattern of abuse can be shown, see Davis v. Bostick,
282 Or 667, 671-72, 580 P2d 544 (1978), do not fit within the
characterization of a continuing tort.
In Davis, the Supreme Court agreed with the defen-
dant that individual acts of assault and battery that occurred
outside the limitation period could not be considered part
of a continuing tort, even though the plaintiff had alleged
an ongoing pattern of physical and mental abuse. 282 Or at
671-72. The court explained that a separate cause of action
“certainly could have been asserted” after each of the defen-
dant’s earlier acts; they “were discontinuous in the sense
that each had a beginning and an end, each was separated
from the next by some period of relative quiescence, and each
was capable of producing compensable harm.” Id. at 673.
Although the acts could be viewed as a continuous course of
conduct, the court concluded that a continuing tort theory
based on a course of tortious, discrete acts could not defeat
the statute of limitations. Id. at 673-74; accord Barrington v.
Sandberg, 164 Or App 292, 296, 991 P2d 1071 (1999) (“A con-
tinuing tort is based on the concept that recovery is for the
cumulative effect of wrongful behavior, not for discrete ele-
ments of that conduct.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.)).
Accordingly, the trial court in Moore correctly
rejected plaintiffs’ argument that their battery claims were
based on a continuing tort theory. Plaintiffs alleged mul-
tiple, separate instances of battery, not a continuing tort.
Any battery claims that occurred more than 180 days before
the filing of the relevant complaint were properly dismissed.
For that reason, we affirm the dismissal of plaintiff Ferrer-
Burgett’s battery claim; all of Moore’s claims of battery that
occurred before May 5, 2018; and all of Gamez’s, Weaver’s,
Conley’s, Meskimen’s, Gonci’s, and Manzella’s claims of bat-
tery that occurred before August 1, 2018.
2. Disability discrimination claim
For her disability discrimination claim, Conley
contends that she initiated her accommodation request in
412 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

June 2018, with multiple attempts to engage in the interac-
tive process with PPS for weeks thereafter with no response.
She argues that her allegations fell within the 180-day
period preceding the filing of the amended complaint (that
is, on or after August 1, 2018). Conley argues that her dis-
ability discrimination claim did not accrue upon filing the
accommodation form, but rather, when PPS failed to engage,
on a continuing basis, in the interactive process required by
law.
We accept the following allegations as true. Conley
submitted an accommodation request on June 14, 2018.
She received a receipt confirmation on June 21, 2018, but
never received any other communications regarding her
request. Conley “reached out to human resources and her
union multiple times over the next few weeks, but never
heard back,” and she eventually “[took] matters into her
own hands” and found another job within the district in the
fall. Furthermore, “[b]etween September and December of
2018, Plaintiff Conley had been called dozens of times as a
backup [in special education classrooms]. She continues to
be assaulted. Because she never received a response from
PPS to her request for accommodation, she must still endure
the physical violence.” The complaint does not state at what
point Conley believed that her accommodation request was
being ignored such that it amounted to disability discrim-
ination due to failure to accommodate her disability, or
exactly when Conley looked for and secured an alternative
job in the district.
The unlawful employment practice alleged is pre-
mised on the employer’s failure to engage in the inter-
active process preliminary to determining a reasonable
accommodation and the employer’s failure to accommodate
an employee’s disability. See, e.g., ORS 659A.112(2)(e) (an
employer commits disability discrimination if the employer
“does not make reasonable accommodation to the known
physical or mental limitations of a qualified individual with
a disability,” unless “the accommodation would impose an
undue hardship”); OAR 839-006-0206(4) (“Once a qualified
employee * * * has requested reasonable accommodation * * *,
the employer has a duty to initiate a meaningful interactive
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 413

process with the employee * * * to determine whether rea-
sonable accommodation would allow the employee * * * to
perform the essential functions of a position held.”); OAR
839-006-0206(6) (failure to engage in the interactive pro-
cess is “a failure to reasonably accommodate”). Thus, the
claim does not accrue on the date the employee first requests
accommodation.
Instead, PPS’s ongoing failure to comply with the
disability discrimination law, as Conley alleged, gives rise
to questions about when her claim accrued. As is the case
here, when an employer ignores a request for accommoda-
tion and the employee does not allege an accrual date of the
claim, the face of the complaint may not establish exactly
when the claim accrued. In theory, it might have been possi-
ble for defendants to argue that Conley knew that PPS had
effectively denied her request for accommodation when she
looked for another job, but that date does not appear on the
face of the complaint either. Moreover, Conley alleged that
PPS failed to accommodate her disability during the lim-
itation period, when it assigned her to work as a backup in
special education classrooms in the last four months of 2018.
In sum, the facts stated in Conley’s complaint do
not establish that her claim accrued before August 1, 2018.
Accordingly, the trial court erred in dismissing her disabil-
ity discrimination claim as untimely.
D. Whether Plaintiffs Stated a Hostile Work Environment
Claim
The Moore plaintiffs’ employment discrimination
claim based on a hostile work environment theory is grounded
on sex discrimination. Defendants moved to dismiss on two
grounds. First, they argued, plaintiffs had failed to allege
ultimate facts stating a hostile work environment claim
based on sex, because the alleged sex discrimination was
controverted by plaintiffs’ own allegations that the spe-
cial needs students indiscriminately assaulted both male
and female school personnel and that PPS allegedly failed
to act on complaints by all the school personnel. Plaintiffs
responded that they had adequately pleaded the claim, rely-
ing on allegations that they were female, they were subjected
414 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

to assaults and harassment based on their sex, and defen-
dants knowingly failed to remedy their working conditions.
The trial court agreed with defendants that the allegations
did not support a sex discrimination claim based on a hos-
tile work environment theory.
Second, defendants challenged the timeliness of the
events supporting the claims, arguing that those events had
to occur within 180 days of the commencement of their action.
Plaintiffs responded that the claim was based on a continu-
ing tort, a theory that the court rejected.5 The trial court then
entered an order dismissing plaintiffs’ second claim for relief
for timely allegations (those that arose within the operative
180-day period preceding the filing of the complaint), because
plaintiffs had “failed to state ultimate facts sufficient to con-
stitute a hostile work environment claim” based on sex.
On appeal, plaintiffs do not challenge the trial
court’s explicit rejection of their continuing tort theory as
to the hostile work environment claims and instead assign
“as error the trial court’s dismissal of their [ORS] 659A.030
claim based on the incorrect interpretation of the law
such that female employees who are sexually assaulted at
work where male employees may also have been sexually
assaulted cannot maintain a claim for a hostile work envi-
ronment based on sex.” Thus, we address whether plaintiffs
in Moore sufficiently alleged a sex discrimination claim
based on a hostile work environment theory, reviewing the
trial court’s ruling granting defendants’ motion under for-
mer ORCP 21 A(8) for legal error. Moser v. Mark, 223 Or App
52, 55, 195 P3d 424 (2008). We conclude that they did.
In part, ORS 659A.030(1)(b) provides that it is “an
unlawful employment practice” for “an employer, because
of an individual’s * * * sex * * * to discriminate against the
individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or priv-
ileges of employment.” The Bureau of Labor and Industries
(BOLI) has issued workplace-discrimination rules estab-
lishing that sexual harassment is a form of unlawful

5
But see generally National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 US 101,
122 S Ct 2061, 153 L Ed 2d 106 (2002) (holding that the continuing violation
doctrine applies to hostile work environment claims under Title VII if one act of
harassment occurred within the statutory period).
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 415

discrimination on the basis of sex under ORS 659A.030. See
OAR 839-005-0030(1) (implementing ORS 659A.030); OAR
839-005-0021(2) (“Discrimination because of sex includes
sexual harassment[.]”); Fred Meyer, Inc. v. BOLI, 152 Or App
302, 307, 954 P2d 804 (1998) (“By administrative rule, BOLI
has determined that sexual harassment is a form of gender
discrimination.”). BOLI’s approach is consistent with federal
case law construing Title VII, in which the general prohibi-
tion against sex discrimination in employment has similarly
been held to encompass sexual harassment. See, e.g., Meritor
Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 US 57, 64-65, 106 S Ct
2399, 91 L Ed 2d 49 (1986) (explaining that sexual harass-
ment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII);
H. K. v. Spine Surgery Center of Eugene, 305 Or App 606,
611, 470 P3d 403 (2020), rev den, 367 Or 826 (2021) (Oregon
courts look to federal cases construing Title VII of the federal
Civil Rights Act for guidance in construing ORS 659A.030,
because its predecessor, former ORS 659.030, renumbered as
ORS 659A.030 (2001), was modeled after that act.).
BOLI describes the types of conduct that constitute
sexual harassment in OAR 839-005-0030(1), as follows:
“(a) Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual
favors, or other conduct of a sexual nature when such con-
duct is directed toward an individual because of that indi-
vidual’s sex and:
“(A) Submission to such conduct is made either explic-
itly or implicitly a term or condition of employment; or
“(B) Submission to or rejection of such conduct is
used as the basis for employment decisions affecting that
individual.
“(b) Any unwelcome verbal or physical conduct that
is sufficiently severe or pervasive to have the purpose or
effect of unreasonably interfering with work performance
or creating a hostile, intimidating or offensive working
environment.”
The guidance in OAR 839-005-0030(1)(b) does not limit
sexual harassment to unwelcome conduct that targets only
members of one sex, which is consistent with case law
addressing the same concept under Title VII.
416 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, for example,
has held that it is error to conclude that harassing conduct
is not “because of sex” under Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, the analogous federal civil rights statute, merely
because the abuser “consistently abused men and women
alike.” Steiner v. Showboat Operating Co., 25 F3d 1459, 1463
(9th Cir 1994). Other circuits that have considered the ques-
tion agree. See, e.g., Petrosino v. Bell Atl., 385 F3d 210, 221
(2d Cir 2004) (exposure of sexually offensive material to both
male and female employees does not prevent a woman from
establishing evidence of a hostile work environment based
on sex); Burns v. Johnson, 829 F3d 1, 17 (1st Cir 2016) (sim-
ilar); see generally Sharp v. S&S Activewear, L.L.C., 69 F4th
974, 979-81 (9th Cir 2023) (collecting and discussing cases in
which the employer exposed all employees to music or other
auditory programming with offensive gender-specific or sex-
ual references). And in Bostock v. Clayton Cty., ___US___,
___, 140 S Ct 1731, 1741, 207 L Ed 2d 218 (2020), the United
States Supreme Court rejected the “equal opportunity dis-
crimination” argument, stating that it is no “defense for
an employer to say it discriminates against both men and
women because of sex.” In other words, the Court explained,
how others in the same environment are treated based on
sex is immaterial to whether the treatment of a single indi-
vidual is based on that individual’s sex. See id. at 1740-42.
Those federal cases are persuasive. We conclude
that a plaintiff alleging discrimination because of sex pro-
hibited by ORS 659A.030(1)(b) need not establish that the
employer only discriminated against members of the plain-
tiff’s sex in order to establish a hostile work environment
claim and that allegations of an offensive work environment
for all employees is not fatal to plaintiffs’ claim.
In a recent case involving harassment that included
sexual touching, we explained that, to prove the existence of
a hostile working environment due to sexual harassment, a
complainant must establish that the employee was subjected
to verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, the conduct
was unwelcome, and the conduct was “ ‘sufficiently severe or
pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment
and create an abusive working environment.’ ” Frehoo, Inc.
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 417

v. BOLI, 319 Or App 548, 558, 510 P3d 888 (2022), rev den,
370 Or 789 (2023) (quoting Fuller v. City of Oakland, 47 F3d
1522, 1527 (9th Cir 1995)). And if a hostile work environment
is established, an employer may be held liable for the harass-
ment on any of the grounds set forth in OAR 839-005-0030(3)
to 839-005-0030(9). Frehoo, 319 Or App at 559.
Here, plaintiffs allege both sexual and sex-based
nonemployee harassment. Sexual harassment by nonem-
ployees is described in OAR 839-005-0030(7) as follows:
“An employer is liable for sexual harassment by non-
employees in the workplace when the employer or the
employer’s agents knew or should have known of the con-
duct unless the employer took immediate and appropriate
corrective action. In reviewing such cases the division will
consider the extent of the employer’s control and any legal
responsibility the employer may have with respect to the
conduct of such non-employees.”
Thus, BOLI recognizes that employers can be held liable
for harassing conduct by certain nonemployees when the
employer knew or should have known of the conduct and
failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
See also Campbell v. State of Hawaii Dept. of Education, 892
F3d 1005, 1017 (9th Cir 2018) (“[Employer] may be held to
account for the students’ actions only if, after learning of the
harassment, it failed to take prompt corrective measures
that were ‘reasonably calculated to end the harassment.’ ”).
In this case, plaintiffs alleged a claim against all
defendants for “Hostile Work Environment - ORS 659A.030.”
Plaintiffs alleged:
“Defendant PPS subjected the female Plaintiffs to a
hostile work environment through its continued miscon-
duct in its treatment of Plaintiffs. Defendant PPS engaged
in a pattern and practice of ignoring and condoning sex-
ual, physical, and verbal abuse to Plaintiffs’ persons. The
condoned conduct against Plaintiffs was pervasive, severe,
offensive, and outrageous.
“Defendant PPS’ actions had the purpose and effect of
creating an intimidating, hostile, and offensive working
environment, and had the effect and purpose of unreason-
ably interfering with Plaintiffs’ work, safety, and wellbeing.
418 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

“Throughout the many complaints of harassment and
assaults, Defendants Pearson, LaFramboise, Stubbs, and
Porter-Lopez failed to properly investigate, failed to take
appropriate action to prevent harm to Plaintiffs, ignored
their requests for assistance and protective gear, failed to
properly train the Plaintiffs and instead aided, abetted,
and incited the assaults.”
Plaintiffs also alleged that defendants had caused plaintiffs
damages.
In context (plaintiffs had already alleged at length
the kinds of assaults they suffered at the hands of students),
plaintiffs’ allegations state ultimate facts establishing a
claim of sex discrimination based on a hostile work environ-
ment in which the employer may be held liable for nonem-
ployee harassment. Plaintiffs alleged that students engaged
in “sexual, physical, and verbal abuse”; that PPS was aware
of the abuse; that PPS condoned and ignored the abuse and
failed to take appropriate action in response to their com-
plaints; that the abuse was offensive and interfered with
plaintiffs’ work, safety, and wellbeing; and that the indi-
vidual defendants aided, abetted, and incited assaults.
Although plaintiffs did not state that the discrimination
was “because of sex,” they noted their protected class (that
they were female), and both the court and defendants were
or became aware that that was the basis for their claim. The
trial court erred in dismissing the hostile work environment
claims based on allegations of harassing or otherwise offen-
sive conduct within the 180-day period before the claim was
asserted in this case.
E. Dismissal of Individual Defendants and Substitution of
PPS
Finally, we address plaintiffs’ contention in Moore
that the trial court erred by substituting the public body,
PPS, for all individual defendants. The court determined
that under ORS 30.265(3) of the OTCA, the public body was
the appropriate defendant and required substitution in all
claims. Again, our review is for legal error, assuming the
truth of all well-pleaded facts and giving plaintiffs the ben-
efit of favorable inferences. Kilminster v. Day Management
Corp., 323 Or 618, 621, 919 P2d 474 (1996).
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 419

In Oregon, if a tort action “alleges damages in an
amount equal to or less than the damages allowed under
[the OTCA], the sole cause of action for a tort committed by
officers, employees or agents of a public body acting within
the scope of their employment or duties and eligible for
representation and indemnification under ORS 30.285 or
30.287 is an action against the public body.” ORS 30.265(3).6
In such situations, “the court upon motion shall substi-
tute the public body as the defendant.” Id. Concomitantly,
the public body has a duty to “defend, save harmless and
indemnify” an employee “against any tort claim or demand,
whether groundless or otherwise, arising out of an alleged
act or omission occurring in the performance of duty.” ORS
30.285(1). That duty, however, “do[es] not apply in case of
malfeasance in office or willful or wanton neglect of duty.”
ORS 30.285(2).
Plaintiffs do not dispute that the damages they
seek are “in an amount equal to or less than the damages
allowed under ORS 30.271.” ORS 30.265(3). They challenge
the application of ORS 30.265(3) because, in their view, their
claims against the individual defendants contain some alle-
gations indicating that their conduct did not fall within
“the scope of their employment or duties.” Plaintiffs did not
allege expressly that the individual defendants had acted
outside the course and scope of their employment. However,
plaintiffs explained to the trial court that
“the assumption from the information that we have is that
they were making decisions that did not [comport] with
what they were supposed to do in the course and scope of
their employment, which was creating safe classrooms,
6
In full, ORS 30.265(3) provides:
“If an action under ORS 30.260 to 30.300 alleges damages in an amount
equal to or less than the damages allowed under ORS 30.271, 30.272 or
30.273, the sole cause of action for a tort committed by officers, employees or
agents of a public body acting within the scope of their employment or duties
and eligible for representation and indemnification under ORS 30.285 or
30.287 is an action against the public body. If an action is filed against an
officer, employee or agent of a public body, and the plaintiff alleges damages
in an amount equal to or less than the damages allowed under ORS 30.271,
30.272 or 30.273, the court upon motion shall substitute the public body as the
defendant. Substitution of the public body as the defendant does not exempt
the public body from making any report required under ORS 742.400.”
(Emphases added.)
420 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

making sure that students were safe, making sure that
their employees were safe and whatever else is in the job
description.”
On appeal, they contend that their allegations of aiding,
abetting, or inciting battery, of retaliation and discrimina-
tion, and of other unlawful abuses could establish that the
individual defendants had not acted in the course and scope
of their employment.
Defendants respond by comparing plaintiffs’ alle-
gations to the factors that are used to determine whether
an employee acted within the scope of employment, includ-
ing the motivation behind the individuals’ alleged conduct.
Three requirements must be met to establish that an employ-
ee’s conduct was within the scope of employment: (1) the con-
duct must have occurred substantially within the time and
space limits authorized by the employment; (2) the employee
must have been motivated, at least partially, by a purpose
to serve the employer; and (3) the act must have been of a
kind that the employee was hired to perform. Chesterman
v. Barmon, 305 Or 439, 442, 753 P2d 404 (1988). In defen-
dants’ view, plaintiffs do not allege facts indicating that the
individuals “were not motivated to serve their employer or
that the allegations [do not] relate to the service the offi-
cials were required to perform.” Thus, defendants assert,
the trial court correctly substituted PPS for the individual
defendants as a matter of law.
Whether conduct is within the scope of a person’s
employment for the purposes of ORS 30.265(3) is a question
of fact, “except in cases where only one reasonable conclusion
may be drawn from the facts pled.” Fearing v. Bucher, 328
Or 367, 374, 977 P2d 1163 (1999); Johnson, 272 Or App at
717 (“Whether a particular act is within the scope of employ-
ment is to be decided on its own particular facts and circum-
stances by the trier of fact[.]”). However, to reach that ques-
tion of fact, plaintiffs’ complaint must allege ultimate facts
that, if true, are “sufficient to establish” that the individual
defendants’ acts were outside the scope of their employment
and “resulted in the acts that caused injury to plaintiff.”
Fearing, 328 Or at 374; see also ORCP 18 A (“A pleading
which asserts a claim for relief * * * shall contain * * * [a]
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 421

plain and concise statement of the ultimate facts consti-
tuting a claim for relief without unnecessary repetition.”).
Conclusions of law alone are insufficient. Fearing, 328 Or at
371.7
In Fearing, the Supreme Court considered whether
the plaintiff’s complaint contained sufficient allegations
that an individual defendant’s conduct was within the scope
of his employment and arguably resulted in the acts that
caused the plaintiff’s injury such that liability could be
imputed to the defendant’s employer. To make that determi-
nation, the court explained, the complaint needed to “con-
tain[ ] allegations sufficient to satisfy all three Chesterman
requirements for establishing that employee conduct was
within the scope of employment.” Id. at 375-76.
The instant case involves the negative of the scope
of employment issue in Fearing. Here, rather than alleging
facts relating to whether a defendant’s conduct was within
the scope of employment, plaintiffs here must allege ultimate
facts that could permit a factfinder to conclude that defen-
dants’ conduct was not within the scope of their employment.
And as in Fearing, plaintiffs are required to allege ultimate
facts that, if true, permit the finding that defendants’ con-
duct caused or led to actions that caused plaintiffs’ injuries.
See id. at 374 (“[W]e must consider whether the allegations
contained in the amended complaint state ultimate facts
sufficient to establish that acts that were within [defen-
dant’s] scope of employment resulted in the acts that caused
injury to plaintiff.”).
Plaintiffs’ allegations concern four individuals, at
all material times employees of PPS: Mary Pearson,
Senior Director of Special Education; Theresa Stubbs, Vice
Principal of the Pioneer Program; Michael LaFramboise,
Principal of the Pioneer Program; and Andrea Porter-Lopez,
Principal at Woodlawn Elementary School. All four individ-
uals were named as defendants in plaintiffs’ first and sec-
ond claims for relief for battery and a hostile work environ-
ment, respectively.
7
As Fearing illustrates, a pleading concerning whether a party acted within
the course and scope of employment can be challenged by way of a motion to dis-
miss. Accordingly, we reject plaintiff’s procedural argument to the contrary.
422 Moore v. Portland Public Schools

Plaintiffs make various allegations throughout
their complaint that concern each individual defendant,
but almost all of them relate directly to defendants fulfill-
ing their respective roles as a PPS employee. For example,
plaintiffs allege that “Stubbs and LaFramboise [told plain-
tiffs] that their jobs would be in jeopardy if they answered
the parents” when asked about their children, including
“parents of unsafe students,” because “they were not allowed
to talk to students’ parents.” Allegations like those, if true,
permit a factfinder to conclude that the defendants’ conduct
was a cause of plaintiffs’ alleged injuries, but they describe
conduct that necessarily involves defendants acting within
their roles as public employees. Thus, those types of facts, on
their own, are insufficient to allow a factfinder to conclude
that defendants were not “motivated, at least partially, by a
purpose to serve the employer.” Chesterman, 305 Or at 442.
However, in addition to those kinds of allegations,
plaintiffs also allege that, “[t]hroughout the many com-
plaints of harassment and assaults,” all four individual
defendants “failed to take appropriate action to prevent
harm to Plaintiffs, ignored their requests for assistance and
protective gear, failed to properly train the Plaintiffs and
instead aided, abetted, and incited the assaults.” Those are
allegations of ultimate facts:
“An ultimate fact is a fact from which legal conclusions are
drawn. A conclusion of law, by contrast, is merely a judg-
ment about a particular set of circumstances and assumes
facts that may or may not have been pleaded. Allegations of
when particular conduct occurred, of the motivation behind
that conduct, and of the employment-related nature of that
conduct all are assertions of fact, which can be proved or
disproved.”
Fearing, 328 Or at 375 n 5 (citation omitted).
If true, those allegations could allow a factfinder to
infer that defendants were not “motivated, at least partially,
by a purpose to serve the employer.” Furthermore, those alle-
gations, if true, may allow a factfinder to infer that defen-
dants’ conduct “occurred substantially [outside] the time
and space limits authorized by the employment” and that
the conduct was not “of a kind which the employee was hired
Cite as 328 Or App 391 (2023) 423

to perform.” Chesterman, 305 Or at 442. Finally, those alle-
gations are sufficient, if true, permit a factfinder to conclude
that the individual defendants engaged in conduct that was
a cause of plaintiffs’ alleged injuries. The trial court erred in
granting defendants’ motion and dismissing the individual
defendants and substituting PPS in their stead.
Dismissal of Moore plaintiffs’ First Claim, Count 2,
for battery that occurred within the notice period reversed;
dismissal of Demma’s First Claim, Count 2, for battery
reversed; dismissal of Moore plaintiffs’ Second Claim for
hostile work environment that occurred within the notice
period reversed; dismissal of Conley’s Fourth Claim for dis-
ability discrimination reversed; remanded for further pro-
ceedings; otherwise affirmed.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10610438. Public record. Not legal advice.