Piedmont High School Hazing & Sexual Assault Lawsuit — Attorney911 & Ralph Manginello’s 27+ Years of Federal-Court Trial Practice Holding Districts Accountable for Locker Room Abuse in Hazing-National, We Litigate Title IX Claims and Institutional Deliberate Indifference, Lead Counsel in the Active $10M+ Bermudez Hazing Matter, Lupe Peña the Former Insurance-Defense Insider Who Knows How the Claims Machine Values and Denies These Cases, We Move Fast to Preserve Coaching Communications and School Records Before the Evidence Clock Runs Out, Millions Recovered in Catastrophic Injury Cases — Free 24/7 Consultation, No Fee Unless We Win, Hablamos Español, 1-888-ATTY-911
Piedmont High School Hazing Lawsuit: Protecting Students from Locker Room Assault If you are reading this from a kitchen table in Piedmont or anywhere in Calhoun County, we know the weight you are carrying. You trusted a school, a coach, and a program to build your child’s character. Instead, that child was subjected to what some call “antics” or “tradition,” but what the law and your own gut tell you was a crime. When locker room culture turns into sexual assault, the silence of the school district is not just a betrayal—it is a violation of federal law. The recent reversal by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has fundamentally changed the legal system for victims of high school hazing in Alabama. It has sent a clear message: same-sex hazing of a sexual nature is sexual harassment. Period. We represent families who have to fight both the trauma of the event and the small-town pressure to keep quiet for the sake of the team. Our firm takes on these cases because we know that “football culture” is never an excuse for the physical and psychological destruction of a student. The Eleventh Circuit Ruling: Why This Lawsuit Was Revived For too long, schools in the South have hidden behind the idea that locker room hazing is just part of the game. In the case involving Piedmont High School and former coach Steve Smith, a lower court originally dismissed the lawsuit, essentially agreeing with the school that these events were just “football…