Montana School District Settles Rape Lawsuit

The Billings school district in Montana and its insurance carrier have agreed to pay nearly $91,000 to the family of a former Billings Senior High student who committed suicide in February 2010 after a former teacher was charged with raping her.

The girl’s mother, Auliea Hanlon, filed the lawsuit. Her daughter died just weeks before her 17th birthday.

The Billings Gazette reported the district agreed in the settlement that the family suffered emotional distress “arising out of alleged improper hiring/supervision of teacher Stacey Rambold.”

Rambold, a business and technology teacher, was charged in October 2008 with three felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent. After the girl’s death, Rambold received a deferred prosecution agreement in which the case would be dismissed in three years if Rambold completed sex-offender treatment.