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Artifact 3: Tort and Liability

Brittany Smith
EDU 210
Dr. Warby
July 25, 2016
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After being suspended from school for three days for too many absences, middle school

student Ray Knight was given a letter from the school to inform his parents of his suspension.

Before Rays parents had a chance to read the letter he threw it away. According to the districts

policy the school is supposed to call the parents after a student has been suspend. During Rays

three days suspension he was over at a friends house and was accidently shot. Since Ray was

shot during a period of time when he was supposed to be at school and his parents were never

properly informed did they have grounds to sue the school district for negligence? There are pros

and cons to the parents having grounds to sue the school district based on former court cases.

One court case that would prove to be a pro ground for suing the school district is

Johnson Johnson v. School districtIn this case, Robbie Johnson a first grade at Willa Cather

Elementary School was injury a game of London Bridges. During the game Robbie was swung

fast and hard and accidentally released whereby he struck his head on a book shelf cutting his

head above his eyebrow. The parents asserted that the teacher was negligent because he was at

the board with her back turned. The court awarded Robbie and his parents 1.226.10 for medical

expenses, 15,000 permanent disfigurements and 5,000 pain and suffering. This case is a clearly a

case where the school was negligent and the parents had grounds to sue.

In the case of Brahatcek v. Millard School District, Darlene Brahatcek filed a wrongful

death suit against the school district when her son David was hit in the head with a golf club by a

fellow student. David was killed. The 40 students were being supervised by a teacher and a

student teacher. The student teacher was supervising David and his classmate. The court found

that if the school district had exercised proper supervision, the death would not have occurred.

This is another case where the parent had grounds to sue the school district for negligence.
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There are also cases that show that parents do not have grounds to sue the school district.

In one case, Lisa Rollins, a nine year old girl was spinning on a merry-go-round with several

friends. The substitute teacher, Linda Green, told the girls to get off of the merry-go-round.

Soon after, Ms. Green turned to tell some boys on the basketball court to stop fighting. In the

meantime, Lisa Rollins was thrown from the merry-go-round and fractured her leg. The court

found that Ms. Green was only 50% at fault. The awards to Lisa Rollins went from $10,000 to

$5,000. This case shows that the court only found Ms. Green only partially at fault.

Another case that shows that parent do not always have grounds to sue school districts

based on negligence is Golden v. Milford Exempted Village School District. In this case, a

freshman basketball player was harassed by a fellow basketball player with the aid of fellow

players. The plaintiff was held down by fellow players while one player sexually abused the

plaintiff. The plaintiff sued the school district on grounds of hazing and negligence. The court

determined that the acts that occurred were not civil hazing rather bullying. Additionally, in

regards to negligent supervision, court found no evidence that the coach acted in a manner that

would be considered reckless, willful, or wanton that would lead to liability and would

overcome the qualified immunity provided to governmental employees. This is another case

that shows that the parents had no grounds to sue the school district.

In all court cases there is the chance that the court could side with the plaintiff or the

defendant. These cases show that the court could rule in favor either way depending on the

circumstances of the case. According to the text, The duty is breached when the individual acts

unreasonably in carrying out the duty. Because of this, I feel that Ray Knights parents have

grounds to sue and possibly win their case against the school district.