Puyallup (Wash.) district agrees to pay $7.75 milion to settle lawsuit accusing former teacher of sexual abuse

The Puyallup (Wash.) district is paying $7.75 million to settle a lawsuit that accused a junior high school teacher of sexually abusing male students over many years.

The Seattle Times reports that the case involved seven former students who contended that Tim Paulsen, who was a teacher and coach at Kalles Junior High, assaulted them between 1991 and 2004.

The lawsuit argued that the Puyallup district was negligent when it failed to prevent Paulsen's "repeated acts of grooming and sexual abuse."

The former students — men now ranging in age from 30 to 41 — came forward to attorney Julie Kays in 2019 to disclose Paulsen’s alleged abuse, and the role the district played in it, after seeing a KIRO-TV report about similar allegations made by another ex-student that resulted in a separate $1.5 million settlement.

Paulsen’s abuse was so brazen that “it should have set off alarm bells to any reasonable educator,” said Kays.

The Puyallup School District did not respond to messages seeking comment about the settlement.

In earlier legal filings, the district had denied it was liable “because Paulsen’s alleged conduct was not within the course and scope of his employment,” according to legal filings.

Paulsen, 54, has not been criminally charged regarding any of the abuse allegations. The statute of limitations for such charges has long expired, said Kays, a former King County prosecutor.