JANET, JANET & SUGGS, LLC FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST FENTON COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 100 BOARD OF EDUCATION

Lawsuit Claims Underage Student Sexually Abused by Longtime Teacher/Administrator at Fenton High School

CHICAGO, June 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC today announced it has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Fenton Community High School District 100 Board of Education, seeking compensation and institutional reform. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman who alleges she was sexually abused as a student by Michael Berago, a longtime teacher and administrator at Fenton Community High School in Bensenville, Illinois.

The lawsuit, Survivor A v. Fenton Community High School District 100 Board of Education, case no. 1:24-cv-04654, a copy of which is available here, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on June 5, 2024. The Complaint alleges the plaintiff was subjected to sexual abuse as a minor over a period of years by Michael Berago, a teacher and track team coach at Fenton High School in Bensenville, Illinois. Berago also served as Director of Equity and Division Leader for Math and Science at the school.

Berago's employment at Fenton High School was finally terminated in March 2024 in the course of an ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate behavior that occurred over the course of more than a decade. Fenton High School District 100 Superintendent James Ongtengco was placed on administrative leave in March 2024 pending further investigation.

"We are honored to file this lawsuit on behalf of our brave client who had the courage to come forward to hold the Fenton Community High School District 100 Board of Education accountable for what the Complaint describes as persistent, pervasive, and flagrant failures to protect her and other students from predatory behavior," said attorney Patrick A. Thronson of Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC, which filed the lawsuit. "If there are other survivors who have suffered abuse or mistreatment from Michael Berago or any other person, we strongly encourage them to come forward to seek justice and healing and help protect current and future students from possible abuse."

According to the Complaint, the plaintiff in the litigation was a full-time student at Fenton High School in 2015 and 2016 when she was repeatedly sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, and raped by Berago. The complaint alleges that, despite being made aware of numerous allegations of Berago's inappropriate and dangerous behavior toward minors at the school, the Fenton Community High School District 100 Board of Education failed to remove Berago to protect its students, and instead allowed the alleged abuse of numerous underage students to continue over a period of years.

Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC believes that victim-survivors coming forward and enforcing their legal rights will promote health and protect future generations of children from being abused.

About Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC
Janet, Janet, & Suggs is a Maryland-based national law firm with offices in Illinois, as well as nine other states and Washington, D.C. The firm is noted for its expertise and accomplishments in cases involving sexual abuse, birth injury and other medical malpractice, defective medical devices, dangerous medications, other personal injuries, and numerous other high stakes matters. The firm has decades of experience handling catastrophic injury cases and has won over three billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients across a wide range of serious and complex cases.

SOURCE Janet, Janet & Suggs