School Bullying Council

Eric Mohat

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A federal judge has thrown out one of two bullying lawsuits involving student suicides at Mentor High School.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent dismissed a lawsuit brought against school officials by the parents of Eric Mohat, 17, who shot himself in 2007 after enduring what his parents described as months of harassment by classmates.

But Nugent continues to preside over a second case filed last year by the parents of Sladjana Vidovic, 16, a Mentor High student who hung herself in 2008. Sladjana’s parents contend their daughter was persistently tormented by classmates.

Attorney Kenneth Myers filed both cases in federal court, asserting violations of the parents’ 14th Amendment right to “the companionship, care, custody and management of their child, including the right to control his education.”

But Myers said the cases involve different legal issues and Nugent’s decision to dismiss the Mohat case shouldn’t have an impact on the Vidovic case.

In the Mohat case, Myers was unable to provide evidence that school officials had been made aware of the bullying that was going on, he said. But not so in the Vidovic

case.

“In the Vidovic case, we have a lot more evidence that the parents had repeatedly complained about the bullying to the school,” Myers said. “And the suicides occurred a year apart, so the school district was on notice as a result of Eric’s death.”

Myers said he plans to meet with Eric’s parents, Bill and Janis, to discuss whether they want to refile the case in Lake County Common Pleas Court, or to appeal Nugent’s ruling.

In a prepared statement, the school district said: “This decision will not end our ongoing commitment to train our staff and students with anti-bullying and mental health education initiatives. Our deepest sympathy remains with the Mohat family grieving the loss of their son.”

The Mohats’ lawsuit accused the Mentor School District and school officials of failing to intercede on behalf of Eric against the bullies, and that this failure contributed to his decision to commit suicide.

But Nugent wrote in his order that the school had no constitutional duty to protect Eric from harm, nor could it have prevented his suicide.

“Consequently, however tragic and unfair this may seem,” Nugent wrote, the Mohats “have not established that the school’s failure to stop the bullying Eric suffered, or its failure to prevent his ultimate suicide,” was a constitutional violation.

Although the Mohats lost their lawsuit, they succeeded in making school officials aware of bullying problems at the high school, Myers said.

“One of their main goals was to bring this to people’s attention, and they certainly did that,” Myers said. “Their other goal was to hold people accountable for their failure to act. That, to some extent, is being done through the Vidovic case.”

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jmccarty@plaind.com, 216-999-4153

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/06/federal_judge_throws_out_one_m.html

By TRACEY READ
Journal Register News Service

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Eric Mohat

The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the case of a teen who killed himself after he was allegedly repeatedly bullied at Mentor High School.

Justices must now decide whether certain claims made by the estate of 17-year-old Eric Mohat can proceed in federal court.

U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent previously asked state justices to rule on whether a lawsuit filed by the teen’s parents against the school is void because Eric’s estate was not established until after the lawsuit filing deadline had passed.

Neither side disputes the estate was mistakenly opened in Cuyahoga County nearly three months after the suit was filed.

Mohat attorney Kenneth D. Myers argued the complaint is not barred by the two-year statute of limitations and that a separate probate attorney who filed the estate did not mean to misrepresent anything to the court.

“There’s room for those types of things to be corrected,” Myers said. “The error was corrected.”

Attorney Paul Flowers, who also represents Bill and Janis Mohat, told justices, “There’s no question mistakes were made in this case.”

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor questioned why the high court should allow the case to go forward with “mistake after mistake after mistake.”

The school district’s attorney, David Kane Smith, said the estate’s claims are time-barred and void.

The Mohats filed a lawsuit in 2009 claiming their son shot himself in the head on March 27, 2007, after months of persistent bullying in math class.

The Mohats claim teachers and other employees witnessed Eric being teased and hit but took no action.

School attorneys claim his parents’ own negligence contributed to the suicide.

Justices are not expected to rule on the question of law for several months.

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