Judge weighs dismissal in Hyde School abuse lawsuit from Bath
Hyde School asked a federal judge to dismiss a Bath abuse lawsuit that could grow to cover more than 100 former students. Judge Stacey D. Neumann said the hearing was unusual but helpful.
A federal judge heard Hyde School’s push to dismiss a lawsuit Friday that accuses the Bath boarding school and several former leaders of abuse, neglect, trafficking and forced labor.
Hyde’s lawyers argued that the sole named plaintiff, Jessica Fuller, does not have standing to bring the full case because she did not personally experience all of the harms alleged across the proposed class. They also said some of the named defendants were not employed at the school during the period Fuller attended. Fuller’s attorneys countered that she was a vulnerable child promised a therapeutic school environment, then subjected to abuse and labor. Judge Stacey D. Neumann said oral argument at this stage was not typical, but she also said the hearing was helpful.
The lawsuit was filed July 11, 2025 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine and is assigned to Neumann, with Magistrate Judge John C. Nivison referred on the docket. The complaint names Hyde School, Laura Gauld, Malcolm Gauld, Laurie Gauld Hurd, Georgia Gauld MacMillan and Donald MacMillan as defendants. A motion for oral argument was granted June 24, 2026, and the docket was last updated June 25, 2026.
Fuller was 16 when she began attending Hyde in July 2014 and left in February 2015. Her lawyers have sought class-action status for students they allege were subjected to forced labor starting in July 2015, a move that could expand the case to more than 100 people if a class is certified. Fuller now lives in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Hyde School is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school serving grades 9-12 and postgraduate students, with 137 students, a 96% college-acceptance rate and students from 25 countries and 20 states. Founded in 1966, Hyde has also built campuses in Woodstock, Connecticut, and Eustis, Maine.
Board chair Dana McCavity denied the allegations in a letter to the school community, saying the claims “grossly mischaracterize Hyde’s policies and practices over time or are patently false,” and promising the school would “vigorously defend” itself.
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