A Fort Worth jury found a school liable for defamation and retaliation and awarded its former human resources director $10.15 million in damages last week.
Carrie Skains sued her former employer, Trinity Valley School, in December 2024 for retaliation and defamation, following statements that claimed she kept information about a teacher who exposed himself to children in order to protect him.
After the incident with the teacher the school hired a new chief financial officer, Adam Wojtelwicz. Skains claimed Wojtelwicz was severe towards women and made her cry in front of employees.
“The jury in this case saw the problem with TVS’s actions from the very beginning, and their verdict sends a warning to all employers in our community, big and small: when you pay someone to write something for you that turns out to be false, that’s your lie,” Skains’ counsel Walt Taylor said in a statement to The Texas Lawbook. “You can’t then turn around and try to escape the consequences of publishing false statements about a dedicated employee by claiming you were merely quoting an ‘independent third party’.”
In February 2023, Skains reported to the head of school she was being discriminated against by Wojtelwicz for being a woman.
In the months following the internal report, Wojtelwicz shifted more work to Skains that she hadn’t done previously, such as hiring all part-time coaches and building out payroll reconciliation sheets.
A new president of the board was hired who Skains claimed also had a history of treating women poorly.
In June 2024, Skains filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging sex discrimination and retaliation for having reported internally. A Trinity Valley School representative informed Skains’ counsel that the school was then investigating her. She then filed a new charge including that the investigation was retaliatory.
Hours before mediation, the school sent an email to about 6,000 people concerning a piano teacher, now in prison, who exposed himself to children. The email claimed Skains was aware of the incident and protected the man and didn’t conduct any further investigation into the incident.
Skains claimed she was forced to resign in January 2025 due to widespread humiliation and unjustified distrust.
The trial started Sept. 1 before U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, and the jury deliberated over the 20 questions for two hours on Sept. 4.
The jury did not find Skains proved Trinity Valley School’s decision to assign her more responsibilities without an increase in compensation was sex discrimination.
It did find the school assigned Skains more work without additional pay due to her report of retaliation.
The jury awarded Skains $150,000 for past pain and suffering and $110,000 to compensate her for lost wages as a result of additional work without pay.
It did not award her punitive damages.
The jury found Trinity Valley School published two defamatory statements about Skains. It awarded her a total of $3.5 million in damages for the two statements. It further awarded her a total of $6.3 million in exemplary damages for the two defamatory statements.
James Long of Long Trial Firm also represented Skains.
Laura Englert and Stephen Fahey represented Trinity Valley School. They did not respond to a request for comment.
The case number is 4:24-cv-01272.