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IN

THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY. FLORIDA

THOMAS FRANCIS CARNEY Ill,

THOMAS FRANCIS CARNEY JR,

LUCIE CARNEY,

Plaintiffs

v

CARDINAL NEWMAN HIGH SCHOOL, INC

FRANCIS BYRNE GEARY Ill,

DIOCESE OF PALM BEACH, INC.

Defendants

-----------------------

COMPLAINT

Case No.:

i I o t c A ~ ~

;u

7 9 ~ l 2 ·xxxx mJ

COMES NOW, The Plaintiffs, Thomas Francis Carney Ill, Thomas Francis

Carney Jr. and Lucie Carney, by and through the undersigned attorney and sues the

Defendants, Cardinal Newman High School, Inc., Francis Byrne Geary Ill and Diocese

of Palm Beach, Inc. and states as follows:

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

1 This Court has jurisdiction over this dispute because this complaint seeks

damages in excess of 15,000.00 dollars, exclusive

o

interest and

attorneys' fees.

2 Defendant Francis Byrne Geary Ill is amenable to jurisdiction as he is

an

individual and resides in Palm Beach County, Florida.

3

Defendant Cardinal Newman High School, Inc. is amenable to jurisdiction

as it regularly conducts business

in

Palm Beach County and throughout

Florida and maintains a High School

in

Palm Beach County.



4 Defendant Diocese

o

Palm Beach, Inc., was, at all times relevant hereto, a

religious establishment, that is amenable to jurisdiction as it has its principal

place of business in Palm Beach County, Florida.

5 Venue is proper

in

Palm Beach County, Florida because the events from

which this cause of action arises occurred in Palm Beach County, Florida.

PARTIES

6

On or about December 18, 2008, nearing the end

o

the first semester of

his junior year at Cardinal Newman High School (herein after Cardinal ),

Thomas Francis Carney Ill (herein after Francis ) developed a hearing

condition after attending a rock concert. The ringing

in

Francis' ears

persisted and worsened despite medical attention. In fact, Francis

developed a phobia about noise causing serious ramifications at school

whereby he was drawing negative attention from his peers by wearing

earplugs/headphones everywhere.

7 Due to this hearing condition, Francis did not want to attend school.

However, with the knowledge

o

this hearing condition, Cardinal permitted

and encouraged Francis to stay enrolled, which enabled him to study from

home and attend school for review classes and exams.

e In

the summer o 2009 Francis' hearing condition vastly improved. Francis

saw a specialist and it was revealed that there was no permanent damage

to his ears. It was suggested, that the best thing Francis could do was try to

lead a normal life.

9

Accordingly, based on this advice, Francis decided to return to the school

for his senior year whereby he returned to band, worked hard academically,

and applied to colleges. As a precaution, with the knowledge and

agreement o Cardinal, Francis wore earplugs, earmuffs and/or a sound

dampening headset around the school.

10 In

November of 2009, as Francis' mother, Lucie Carney (herein after

Lucie ), waited to pick up Francis from school, she was approached by

Cardinal's vice principal Theresa Fretterd (herein after Fretterd ). Fretterd



summoned Lucie to her office to discuss a situation where a teacher

overheard two students talking about (Francis] making a bomb. She also

informed Lucie that there was talk that the ear damage (Francis) was due

to exposure to explosions caused by him.

11 Upon being questioned about Francis' activities at home, Lucie pressed

Fretterd to reveal the name of the teacher and the students to

no

avail.

Lucie stated that Francis' ear troubles were due

to

the rock concert which

Cardinal was already made aware of

in

December 2008.

12 Nevertheless, Lucie was then brought into a room where the principal of

Cardinal, Father Carr, a police officer from the West Palm Beach Police

Department

and

Francis were assembled. She was questioned further

about Francis' activities and

she

categorically denied any possibility of

explosives being purchased or assembled

in

the home. Lucie expressed

total disbelief and shock over these allegations. This was a completely

baseless accusation without any merit.

In

fact, this questioning occurred

despite the fact that Cardinal knew why Francis was wearing ear-guards

and knew that

it

was a result of the injury

to

his ears.

13 Notwithstanding the school's knowledge o Francis' ear condition, prior to

Lucie's arrival at Cardinal,

and

in

full view of the other students, Francis'

locker was searched by Cardinal authorities. Only school books and papers

were found, which further demonstrated. that the accusations were

completely mendacious.

14

The Carney family was profoundly upset by this incident. In fact, Lucie wrote

to

Cardinal's principal John Clarke expressing her concern

at

the meanness

of spirit of such unfounded and baseless accusations (especially in light of

the facts and real reasons of which Cardinal was intimately aware).

Additionally, Tom Carney followed this

up

with a conversation with John

Clarke expressing his displeasure at the needless humiliation of Francis,

who was pulled out of class and whose locker was searched in full view of

other students. John Clarke agreed this situation should have been handled

differently. John Clarke even stated directly

to

Lucie that he would



investigate the matters, root out the rumors

and

address them.

15

On

or about mid April2010, Lucie was contacted by Cardinal's

guidance counselor, Sherri Boyce. Sherri Boyce advised Lucie that a new

rumor surfaced. The rumor was that Francis planned to bring a gun to

school on the last day of the year. Again, Lucie pressed to find out more

details but Sherri Boyce's responses were very vague.

16.

On or about April 26 2010, the Carneys were contacted by Cardinal about

another serious rumor, that Francis was going to bring a gun

to

school,

which was spreading quickly throughout the whole school. This rumor was

also discussed around school and

on

Facebook. The Carneys immediately

went to Cardinal and learned that Francis' locker and backpack

had been

searched again and that he was again being questioned by Cardinal

authorities

and

a police officer

in

view of other students.

17.

A private interview was held between the responding police officer and

Francis, whereby again the police officer determined that the whole incident

was based

on

nothing but a malicious rumor.

18

Immediately upon his arrival

to

school

on

April

27

2010, Francis

had

been

called into the Dean's office and told to open his Facebook page as there

had

been yet another rumor that

he had

posted: Tuesday was going

to

be

Boom-Day This was an apparent reference that he was going to set a

bomb. off. There was no such reference on his Facebook page and Francis

was accused by the Dean of Students, Ms. Gomez, of deleting the post.

19

On April 27, 2010, Lucie received a call from

Ms.

Gomez stating that

[Francis'} presence at Cardinal Newman

had

become a major disruption

and

that

he

must leave the school immediately.

20. Upon arriving at Cardinal less than

30

minutes later, Lucie found Francis'

backpack lying open on the floor of the administrative office, revealing a few

papers, books and a new set of drumsticks recently purchased for the

express purpose of performing in an end of school-year show, and

graduation.

21

Lucie was brought into

an

office where Francis was sitting with Fretterd

and



Father Carr. Father Carr immediately stated we are

in

panic mode right

now. He explained that parents were arriving in droves to pull their children

out of school and the situation was too big to handle.

22.

Father Carr did not try to hide the fact that he wanted Francis out of the

School immediately

and

permanently.

He

offered to make a deal

to

ensure

that Francis' grades would

be

worked out and that he would receive his

diploma as long as the Carneys agreed to keep him out of school. Again

Francis stated he did nothing wrong and did not understand why he was

being punished

and

stigmatized.

He

stated to Father Carr that he wanted to

take the school exams and his banishment from Cardinal would be viewed

as

an

admission of guilt.

23.

Father Carr stated that Francis remaining

in

the school would hinge upon

the result of the police investigation and after the Dioceses of Palm Beach

reviewed

it.

24 The police immediately commenced

an

investigation to determine whether

there was any merit to the accusations. Francis cooperated with police and

answered all their questions. Fretterd, who

had

full control of the names

to

be

given

to

Police, was provided with several names by Francis of the

individuals who were spreading the rumors, including the Defendant,

Francis Byrne Geary Ill, (herein after Geary ). Despite this fact, Geary was

never questioned.

25

In

addition, as per the police report, Fretterd gave names to the police of

those who apparently saw the Post on Facebook, yet no one questioned

admitted to seeing any post from Francis. Frettered also affirmed Ms.

Gomez's accusation and stated that Francis

had

deleted the post.

26. On

April 27, 2010, two television stations, WPTV

and

WPEC, interviewed

students about the rumors. One of the students interviewed was Defendant

Geary, who was outside of school waiting to

be

picked up. The story was on

the evening news which was then published

and

talked about

on

Facebook.

27

Three separate articles appeared

in

The Palm Beach Post

on

April

27

2010

and

April 28 2010: West Palm Police continue to interview Cardinal



Newman High students about reported threats by one student, West Palm

Beach police investigate talk of student with gun,

and

'West

Palm Beach

police looking into student threat at Cardinal Newman High.

28

Additionally, at this time Cardinal's spokesperson Alexis Weinstein, issued a

statement to the Palm Beach Post

in

which she said there is no established

credibility to this rumor.

29

The Carneys obtained a copy of the final police report on or about May

7,

2010 in which the officer wrote,

I

found no actual basis in the allegations

and found no evidence of any criminal violations.

30

Although the report specifically stated that there was no basis to believe any

of the allegations

as

true, including the specific allegation which was the

source of Cardinal's actions, Francis was banned from school and was not

permitted to partake

in

the graduation ceremony.

31 The actions by the School patently contributed to the belief that there must

have been something to the story and rumors even though it was clearly

untrue.

32

Cardinal did nothing to attempt

to

quell the rumors, allowing the other

students and faculty to believe the allegations against Francis to be correct.

33

Cardinal hired extra security guards,

all

who were conspicuous, for the

remaining school events to again reinforce the threat within the School

community.

34

Cardinal's actions were designed to ally the fears of the students,

notwithstanding the fact that the School had received the police report

which found no basis in the allegations, nor any evidence of criminal

activity.

35

Francis suffered

and

continues to suffer to this day from the events that

transpired. He has lost interest in many things that he used to enjoy, and

refuses to go to events in fear that he will be talked about, and put on the

defensive.

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