ROME, GEORGIA: Up to 20 former students of Darlington School in Georgia have filed a lawsuit for $345 million in damages because they say a former teacher sexually abused them when they were younger. Insurance companies that covered the school are said to be the target of the lawsuit.
The abuse claims first came to light in a 2017 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The article said that the school had known about the abuse for years but did nothing about it. In the end, the time limit ran out. The former students, who call themselves “Darlington Survivors,” first settled a lawsuit against Roger Stifflemire. According to the terms of the settlement, Stifflemire did not have to pay the students any money.
But the process let the man try to get a settlement from his insurance company. The insurance company took care of Darlington during the time that former students said Stifflemire abused them at school and on field trips.
What’s Roger Stifflemire’s name?
Roger Stifflemire worked at the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, for many years as an English teacher and dorm supervisor. He lives in Alabama and is now 81. He never admitted that he hurt his students. Even though Darlington asked for an investigation into the claims, the results were not made public.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Stifflemire was in charge of students between the ages of 13 and 17. It is said that he sexually abused some of them. Between 1974 and 1994, he worked at the school. The students, who are now in their 40s and 50s, told the Daily Mail that Stifflemire “groomed” them, gave them oral sex, and called them cat names. He is also said to have taken them to a private ski club on the weekends. They said he forced them to have sex with him at his apartment off campus and sexually abused them on school trips both on and off campus.
Darlington eventually took Stifflemire’s name off a plaque that honored “memorable” and “influential” teachers. It later unveiled a new memorial to the people who had been sexually abused. The website for the school says, “Darlington was founded and incorporated “not to make money,” but “for educational and literary purposes, where all kinds of learning can be taught.” Today, Darlington is so much more than just a school that helps kids get ready for college. It’s a place where being curious can lead to becoming wise. A place where people can turn their compassion into service. And where being honest leads to honor.”
“Darlington Survivors” made a Facebook page to “give other victims a safe place to feel comfortable coming forward.” “We wanted to make a place where everyone could see what was going on because the secret had been kept for a long time. And we wanted to make a place where the people of Darlington could show their love and support. We want to help heal the wounds that have hurt us all for so long, give us all a “voice” to break the silence and tell the truth, and give us all hope for a new start at Darlington School “what they said.