Quillayute Valley School District Settles Federal Case
The Quillayute Valley School District has paid a total of $765,834.77 to a former assistant cross-country coach, formally concluding a federal lawsuit that brought years of institutional failures within the Forks school system to light.
A Satisfaction of Judgment filed on July 2 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma verifies that the district has settled the April 10 judgment and the June 2 supplemental judgment in full, covering interest, court costs, and attorneys' fees.
The filing, signed by the plaintiff's attorney, Daniel C. Gallagher of Bainbridge Island, acknowledges full payment has been received and states that the district "has Satisfied the Judgment" in the matter.
This payment concludes the case of Larson v. Quillayute Valley School District No. 402, which resulted in an eight-person jury finding the district liable in April for creating a hostile work environment under the Washington Law Against Discrimination.
The jury awarded the plaintiff $250,000 in damages. After the court added attorneys' fees, litigation costs, and interest in the supplemental judgment, the district's total obligation more than tripled to $765,834.77.
The plaintiff, a 2015 Forks High School graduate, first filed suit against the district and cross-country coach Brian Weekes in August 2024. In February 2025, Title IX Coordinator Kyle Weakley was added as a defendant through an amended complaint.
The lawsuit alleged that after being hired in 2017 as an assistant coach, the plaintiff was subjected to persistent unwanted physical contact, offensive messages, and sexually suggestive comments by Weekes, who denied the allegations.
At trial, the plaintiff testified that Weekes used post-workout "stretching" routines as a cover for inappropriate physical contact.
Her amended complaint further alleged that the district had prior knowledge of other reports of inappropriate conduct involving Weekes and failed to follow its own policies in addressing them.
Earlier reporting by this publication has documented a pattern over more than two decades of internal district records, published in April, of an administration that repeatedly prioritized quiet resignations and liability management over safety and transparency.
The trial brought this approach before a federal jury for the first time, and the jury did not accept it.
The cost of the district's failures is now being borne by the public that funds it. Public school districts do not have private fortunes; whether the money comes from the district's risk pool, its insurance, or its operating reserves, the expense ultimately falls to the community.
The payment does not, however, resolve issues of accountability. At the April 14 school board meeting, the plaintiff's father, Rod Larson, told the board his daughter had been unable to return to work since the trial and noted that no board member attended the court proceedings. “She should be happy and relieved, but that is not the case,” he said.
The satisfaction of judgment resolves the district’s legal debt to the plaintiff. It does not answer the questions parents have been asking since the verdict: what has changed, who has been held responsible, and why did it take a federal jury to force the issue.
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