FARGO — A jury on Friday found that a Fargo couple in whose home was partially liable in the case.
The case involved the sexual assault of two teenage girls by two 15-year-old boys. One of the girls sued the parents of the other girl, claiming they failed to keep her safe while she was under their supervision.
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The Forum does not identify victims of sexual assault or their families. Because the individuals named in this case are either victims or their family members, pseudonyms will be used for them for the purposes of this reporting.
The plaintiff in the case — the girl who did not live in the house where the assault took place who was 15-years-old at the time — will be identified as Jane Doe (Jane) and her parents as John and Joan Doe (the Does). The other girl, who was 17-years-old at the time and at whose home the assault took place, will be identified as Polly Poe (Polly) and her parents — the defendants in the case — will be referred to as Paul and Pauline Poe (the Poes).
The civil trial of Jane Doe against the Poes began Tuesday, with a nine-person jury consisting of six men and three women being seated and hearing testimony and evidence from plaintiff’s attorneys Lindsay Wilz and Duane Lillehaug of the Maring Williams law firm and Bismarck-based defense attorney Lawrence King on Wednesday and Thursday.
The assault
According to testimony and court records, Jane spent the night of Oct. 18, 2019 at Polly’s house. The Poes were home at the time, and the Does were aware that Jane was spending the night at her best friend’s home, a frequent occurrence. The girls had been friends since before kindergarten.
Three boys were also hanging out with the girls in the basement of the Poe home that evening. One of them was Jane’s boyfriend, who was known to the Poe family. The Poes were not familiar with the other two boys but Pauline met them at the door when they arrived sometime after 11 p.m. and spoke with them. Polly’s boyfriend also visited the home around midnight.
The Poes did not physically check on the teens in the basement at any point over the course of the evening or overnight. They communicated by text with Polly that the teens were forbidden to drink alcohol and that the boys were to leave by no later than 1 a.m.
Two of the boys — including Polly’s boyfriend — left by 1 a.m., but two others did not leave the house until 9 a.m. on Oct. 19, when they snuck out an egress window. The girls drank alcohol in spite of the Poes’ warnings, and, sometime over the course of the night or in the early morning hours, Jane’s boyfriend sexually assaulted her, according to testimony and court documents. Not long after that, Jane’s boyfriend and the other boy who stayed that night both sexually assaulted Polly. Jane was in the room when Polly’s rape happened but was so incapacitated she was not aware of what was happening, despite Polly’s cries for help.
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The Forum is not identifying the boys accused of the assault because they were juveniles at the time and the records are sealed in the juvenile court that adjudicated them directly. Pauline Poe previously told The Forum that one boy pleaded guilty by taking an Alford plea - which allows a defendant to acknowledge that there is enough evidence to find them guilty without admitting to any wrongdoing - and that Jane's boyfriend was found guilty in their juvenile proceedings with regard to the assault on Polly.
Both boys testified at the trial on Thursday and denied having non-consensual sex with Jane and Polly, testimony attorneys for both sides called not credible in their closing arguments.
'Bad things can happen'
Jane’s attorneys said the Poes were negligent in protecting and supervising her as a minor under their care in their home, and that negligence presented the opportunity for her to be sexually assaulted.
John Doe testified that “the life has been sucked out of” his once “bubbly, happy, and full-of-energy” daughter since the assault, and that she’d become isolated and “broken” in the intervening years.
King argued in a motion for summary judgment in the case that there was no way the Poes could have reasonably foreseen the criminal act of sexual assault would take place at their home that night. Judge Nicholas Chase denied the motion, saying the issue of whether or not Jane's injury could have reasonably been anticipated or foreseen was a question for a jury.
Six weeks prior to the assault, Pauline Poe caught the girls at the Poe home on Labor Day weekend. Pauline testified that she told the girls, “bad things can happen,” when they drank and urged them not to do it again.
But, Wilz pointed out in her closing argument, the Poes did not disclose that Labor Day incident to Jane’s parents, and, for that reason, “the (Poes) were the only adults who could have reasonably anticipated what happened that night,” Wilz said.
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Wilz said that if the Poes had enforced the two rules they’d imposed via text — that there be no alcohol and that the boys leave by 1 a.m. — everything that happened could have been avoided.
'Great day for our justice system'
Text messages shown in court between the Poes and Polly over the course of the evening reiterated those rules, but Wilz argued the couple went to bed prior to ensuring the boys had left and did not go down to the basement at any point to check and see if the teens were drinking.
The defense argued that 100% of the fault in the case was that of the boy who allegedly assaulted Jane Doe. King said that there were no red flags to suggest the Poes should have foreseen what would happen. Polly Poe testified that it was “evil” to try to blame her parents for what happened, and that the assaults could have happened just as easily at the Doe family’s house.
Wilz asked the jury to award Jane $4 million in damages for past and future injury that resulted from the incident.
After 2 1/2 hours of deliberation Friday, the jury found that Jane Doe should be awarded $250,000. The jury found that the Poes bore 40% of the fault — 20% each — for the harm Jane suffered, assigning 58% of the fault to Jane's boyfriend and 2% to the man who supplied the alcohol to the girls that night. The jury had the opportunity to find fault with Jane Doe as well as the other boy who assaulted Polly, but assigned zero fault to either of them.
King told The Forum he appreciated and respected the jury’s determination in the case.
“We are elated with the outcome,” Wilz said. “It is great for (Jane) to be validated — as a victim, to be told by a jury of her peers that this was not her fault. And for the (Poes) to be held responsible — it is a great day for our justice system.”
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In 2021, the Poe family and North and Davies High s, where the children in question attended school. The suit alleged the district violated federal law and school policy by not investigating the allegations after the girls and their parents reported them. The parents also claimed district leaders displayed negligence, indifference and sexual discrimination, violating the district's own policies and Title IX, a federal civil rights law that protects people from sex discrimination in education.
That case was dismissed when Chief District Court Judge Peter Welte ruled the school did not have control over the home where the sexual assault occurred, and thus could not have prevented or been held liable for the assault, nor did the schools violate Title IX because no further harassment was alleged to have occurred after the incident.
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