Jane Doe v. Todd Blanche

── Jane Doe v. Todd Blanche ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: May 04, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0200n.06 Case No. 25-1442 FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS May 04, 2026 FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) JANE DOE, ) Plaintiff - Appellant, ) ) v. ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED ) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE ) TODD W. BLANCHE, Acting U.S. Attorney ) EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN General, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) OPINION Defendants - Appellees. ) ) Before: KETHLEDGE, NALBANDIAN, and RITZ, Circuit Judges. RITZ, Circuit Judge. Jane Doe1 alleges that John Smith, her supervisor at the FBI, harassed and assaulted her, leading to her termination. On the government’s motion, the district court dismissed Doe’s suit for failure to state a claim. We affirm. BACKGROUND At the motion-to-dismiss stage, we credit all well-pled factual allegations in Doe’s complaint and draw all reasonable inferences in her favor. See Guertin v. Michigan, 912 F.3d 907, 916 (6th Cir. 2019). I. Facts Doe is a religious woman who began working for the FBI in 2011. In 2012, Doe met Smith when he started a supervisory role at the FBI field office where they worked. Smith soon began 1 As the parties and district court have done throughout this case, we use the pseudonyms “Jane Doe” and “John Smith,” respectively, to describe plaintiff and her alleged harasser. No. 25-1442, Doe v. Blanche, et al. to assert invasive authority over Doe. For instance, he repeatedly told Doe about his “control” over their workplace and bragged about his extensive connections within FBI headquarters. RE 1, Compl., PageID 12. He also began to demand that Doe meet privately with him for long stretches of time. When Doe divorced her husband in 2012, Smith “represented to her attorney that he was also an attorney and guided the divorce settlement” to “assert control over the outcome.” Id. at PageID 13. After Doe’s divorce, Smith instructed Doe that FBI policy required her to “disclose to him everything related to her personal life.” Id. Smith demanded access to Doe’s personal and work phones and downloaded personal information and sensitive photographs. Smith would later use this data to blackmail and stalk Doe, often showing up uninvited at her location in his government- issued vehicle. Smith’s coercive behavior escalated. Doe alleges that in April 2013, she was riding in Smith’s vehicle after a work event when he pulled the car into a remote location and attempted to kiss her, rolling on top of her while wearing his sidearm, even as she pushed him away and told him to stop. Doe was afraid for her life and feared that Smith would retaliate against her for refusing sexual contact. That same spring, Smith accosted Doe late at night at her family home. He had tracked her location and, afraid that Doe was reconciling with her ex-husband, drove to the home at over 110 miles per hour using the lights and sirens on his FBI vehicle. When he arrived, Smith threatened to tell Doe’s ex-husband that he and Doe were having an affair. After Smith left, Doe attempted to commit suicide. Doe alleges that from there, Smith’s physical assaults and psychologica