Brevard Public Schools seek to dismiss $100 million lawsuit but avoids allegations in 'Sofia' case

Eric Rogers, Florida Today
·4 min read

A response filed in federal court Tuesday by attorneys for the Brevard County School Board moves to dismiss a $100 million lawsuit from the family of student Sofia Bezerra, a girl with Down syndrome who came home from school last year with a mask tied to her face, but fails to offer new insight into the incident that made national news.

The motion seeks to dismiss claims filed in December by attorneys representing Jeffrey Steel, Sofia's stepfather, and mother Shirley Bezerra Steel, based on legal and technical "defects" in the court filings, including improper procedure in the assigning of claims and "conclusory and vague" allegations, according to the 24-page document.

"The thread-bare recitations of the Amended Complaint have made it impossible to determine whether Plaintiffs ... even have standing to bring the claims asserted in the first place," the response reads. "Stripped of these improper allegations, the Amended Complaint fails to state a cause of action, and, accordingly, must be dismissed."

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Alternatively, the motion seeks an order from a judge for an updated complaint from the Steel family's legal team that fixes the alleged issues.

Attorneys with Jacksonville law firm AndersonGlenn LLP, who are representing the Steels, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.

What the response — the first in the case from the Brevard School District — does not do is provide any highly anticipated new details about the incident, which was widely reported in conservative media outlets and stoked local and national outrage over public school mask mandates.

Jeffrey Steel talks about his daughter, who has Down syndrome, being forced to wear a mask at an Oct. 20 press conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, several state and local officials, and parents of students.
Jeffrey Steel talks about his daughter, who has Down syndrome, being forced to wear a mask at an Oct. 20 press conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, several state and local officials, and parents of students.

On Nov. 7, 2020, Sofia arrived home on the school bus from Ocean Breeze Elementary in Indian Harbour Beach with a mask tied to her face with a piece of nylon cord.

Jeffrey Steel said in multiple public appearances that the mask — which had been tied to Sofia's face for weeks to comply with the school district's mask mandate, then in effect, without her family's knowledge or consent — obstructed her breathing and endangered her health, claims that were repeated by his attorneys in a 44-page court filing.

The case was held up by local lawmakers, conservative activists and media commentators as a case of child abuse by the school system in service of an "illegal" mask mandate. (The Brevard County School Board passed the mandate in a split 3-2 vote last August, in defiance of a state order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Masks have since been made optional.)

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Many of the claims in the Sofia case have been contradicted by the findings of an Indian Harbour Beach police investigation, which uncovered no evidence that Sofia was ever in distress or had difficulty breathing. Allegations of child abuse against her teachers were unfounded, police said.

Sofia's teachers told police they used the rope to tie the mask in place — a method recommended by the Down Syndrome Resource Foundation — because her condition affected the shape of her ears, making it difficult for her to wear a mask the conventional way.

Demonstrators called attention to a case of Sofia, a 7-year-old student with Down syndrome who came home from school with a mask tied to her face, at the Oct. 26 Brevard County School Board meeting in Viera.
Demonstrators called attention to a case of Sofia, a 7-year-old student with Down syndrome who came home from school with a mask tied to her face, at the Oct. 26 Brevard County School Board meeting in Viera.

The police report, which some critics have denounced without evidence, is the main source of details about the case aside from Jeffrey Steel himself. An internal investigation by Brevard Public Schools remains active and Indian Harbour Beach police have stated the case is under review by the State Attorney's Office.

A spokesman for State Attorney Phil Archer maintained Wednesday that the office could neither confirm nor deny it was looking into the case.

A spokesman for Brevard Public Schools declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation, but Brevard School Board chair Misty Belford — one of three School Board members named in the suit, along with Brevard Superintendent Mark Mullins — said in consultation with her attorney that it was unlikely the suit would produce new information anytime soon.

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"It would be premature to address the substantive issues of the case at this point," Belford told FLORIDA TODAY. "Especially in federal cases, the motion to dismiss (at this early stage) is usually based around the technicalities of the complaint.

"The substantive issues will not be brought forward until we go through discovery," or the formal gathering of evidence, she said, a lengthy process that can take months to complete.

Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricRogersFT.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: BPS seeks to dismiss 'Sofia' lawsuit but avoids abuse allegations