Mother of disabled girl who was allegedly raped in Starbucks bathroom sues company, school district

The mother of an intellectually disabled girl who was allegedly led from school grounds by three male students and sexually assaulted in a Starbucks bathroom and a nearby empty building filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing Starbucks, Pittsburgh Public Schools and a property management company of negligence.

The lawsuit alleges that school personnel at Taylor Allderdice High School failed to provide adequate supervision and care of the girl during school hours and during transportation to and from school. It alleges that both the property management company 101 Kappa Drive Associates #1 and Starbucks managers were aware of the increasing crime issues near their businesses and failed to provide security or training for employees on how to respond to and report criminal activities.

“Pittsburgh Public Schools failed to create a safe environment for my client to go to and from school when it knew that she needed one. And Starbucks and Kappa failed to protect my client from the violence of others when they knew their businesses were causing criminal activity to occur. The painful result was her sexual assault.” said attorney Alec Wright, who represents the girl and her mother in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the then 15-year-old girl, whose name was withheld in the lawsuit, was led off campus by three male students in October 2022. The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks employees witnessed the male students taking turns entering the bathroom with the girl and did not intervene. The alleged assailants then took her to an empty building managed by Kappa, where the third boy sexually assaulted the girl, according to the lawsuit filed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.