Geoffrey William Crawford

The case involved a former high school student suing her school and officials under Vermont’s Public Accommodations Act, alleging that pervasive student-on-student racial and sexual harassment created a hostile environment that denied her full and equal educational opportunities. The Vermont Supreme Court held that such peer-harassment claims are viable but require a plaintiff to show that she exhausted the school’s administrative remedies or had a valid reason for not doing so. Applying this standard, the court affirmed summary judgment for the defendants because the plaintiff had never reported the harassment to school officials and did not qualify for any exception to the exhaustion requirement.

civil rightsprocedure

This case involves a divorce proceeding in which the husband appealed the family court's exclusion of a Vermont Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (VUGMA) account holding funds for the parties' minor daughter from the marital estate, as well as the overall property division awarding nearly 90% of the assets to the wife. The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the family court's judgment, concluding that the VUGMA account was the property of the child and thus not distributable in the divorce. The court reasoned that the property award was equitable under Vermont's statutory factors, given the wife's long-term contributions to the marital home and expenses, the parties' respective earning histories and capacities, and the overall circumstances of the marriage, while rejecting claims that the division was inequitable or overlooked the husband's needs.

family lawproperty