Suit charges teacher had sex with student

Tuesday, May 9, 2000 | 11:05 a.m.

The parents of a Bishop Gorman High School graduate have filed a lawsuit against the school and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevada, claiming a teacher began a sexual relationship with their daughter, ultimately impregnating her.

The lawsuit, filed in District Court Monday, also names the Roman Catholic bishop of Las Vegas and his successors and the Clerics of Saint Viator, the religious order that ran the school at the time.

According to the lawsuit, the girl enrolled at the school at age 14 and began a sexual relationship with Tom Robinson when she was 17. Robinson, who was married, was a religion teacher, counselor and track coach.

Although the relationship was "open, obvious and notorious" and concerns were raised by staff members, the lawsuit alleges the school and diocese did not launch an investigation.

Attempts today to reach a spokesman at the diocese, which also represents the school in such matters, were not successful.

Robinson pursued the relationship after the girl graduated, promising her an engagement ring and marriage, the lawsuit claims.

The girl's parents didn't learn of the relationship until she called home from college in May 1998 to tell them, the lawsuit states. Nine days later they learned she was pregnant.

The parents immediately notified the diocese of the relationship, and the school allowed Robinson to resign, according to the lawsuit.

The parents are suing on the grounds of negligence, breach of contract and misrepresentation.

The lawsuit is the third such lawsuit to be filed in recent weeks. Two other former students and their parents filed lawsuits claiming another teacher, Jack David Patton, began sexual relations with them in 1996 and 1997.