Robert Schanne v. Jenna Addi

Filing

NOT PRECEDENTIAL OPINION Coram: SLOVITER, FUENTES and ROTH, Circuit Judges. Total Pages: 3. Judge: FUENTES Authoring. [-The attorneys names were left off of the opinion. Counsel have been added. Notice is being resent.]--[Edited 09/01/2015 by CJG]

Case: 12-4044

Document: 003112061582

Page: 1

Date Filed: 09/01/2015

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
________
No. 12-4044
_________
ROBERT SCHANNE,
Appellant
v.
JENNA ADDIS
________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. No. 2-11-cv-01851)
District Judge: Honorable Anita B. Brody
_______
Argued May 15, 2013
Before: SLOVITER, FUENTES, and ROTH, Circuit Judges
(Filed: September 1, 2015)

Wayne A. Ely, Esq. [ARGUED]
Timothy M. Kolman, Esq.
Kolman Ely
414 Hulmeville Avenue
Penndel, PA 19047
Counsel for Appellant
Stephen J. Britt, Esq. [ARGUED]
P.O. Box 1746
Blue Bell, PA 19422,
Counsel for Appellee

Case: 12-4044

Document: 003112061582

Page: 2

Date Filed: 09/01/2015

______________
O P I N I O N*
_______________
FUENTES, Circuit Judge.
Former high school teacher Robert Schanne sued Jenna Addis, his former student,
alleging that Addis defamed him when she told another teacher at Lower Merion High
School that she and Schanne had an intimate relationship while she was still a student.
The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Addis on the ground that
Pennsylvania’s judicial privilege immunized her from liability for those statements.
Schanne filed an appeal, arguing that the privilege did not apply because Addis did not
reveal their relationship with the intention of initiating proceedings against Schanne.1
Because the appeal turned on an important and unsettled issue of state law, we
filed a petition for certification with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. That Court agreed
to consider the following question: “Does the absolute judicial privilege apply to an
allegation of sexual misconduct against a teacher by a former student, which allegation
was made prior to the commencement of any quasi-judicial proceeding and without an
intent that the allegation lead to a quasi-judicial proceeding?” Schanne v. Addis, 99 A.3d
527 (Pa. 2014).
After considering the parties’ arguments, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
answered in the negative, holding that the judicial privilege did not protect Addis’s

This disposition is not an opinion of the full court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
1
The District Court had diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, and we have
appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
*

2

Case: 12-4044

Document: 003112061582

Page: 3

Date Filed: 09/01/2015

statements made prior to the commencement of any quasi-judicial proceeding. See
Schanne v. Addis, No. 106 MAP 2014, 2015 WL 4920770, at *7-9 (Pa. Aug. 17, 2015).
Accordingly, for the reasons set forth in that decision, we will vacate the District Court’s
grant of summary judgment and remand for further proceedings.

3