School Bullying Council

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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

Barbara Bagby Claims La Jolla Country Day School Did Nothing To Stop Bullying Against Her

SAN DIEGO — Jurors mulling over a lawsuit by a former La Jolla Country Day School student, who claims she was retaliated against her when she complained to administrators about bullying, completed their first full day of deliberations Tuesday without reaching a verdict.

The attorney for Desiree Barbara Bagby asked the jury to award her client $1 million.

Bagby alleges that slurs were written on her car, which someone also drew a penis on. She also alleges a student in a car nearly ran her down in a school parking lot, that she was threatened via the Internet and that someone put a dead rat in her locker.

Attorney John Collins, representing the school, told jurors in his closing argument Monday that the lawsuit was a “misuse” of the justice system and was filed to get back at the school.

“They (school administrators) followed protocol to the letter,” Collins said.

He told the jury the girl’s father told his daughter’s adviser at La Jolla Country Day that his goal in filing the lawsuit was to drag the school through the mud.

Collins said most of the witnesses in the trial contradicted some of Desiree Bagby’s testimony that she was bullied and that the school didn’t do enough about it.

Bagby was suspended for five days for stealing beer and drinking during a school-sponsored trip to Ecuador and yelling an obscenity at a heckler during a school soccer game, according to court testimony.

A recommendation to expel Bagby was overturned, but she was ultimately asked to withdraw from the school, which she did.

Bagby claimed she did not get a re-enrollment contract for her junior year, but Collins said the school principal sent one to her home a day after he was told she did not get one.

Bagby, now 18 and in college, heard from her mother, not the school, that she was not going to be able to attend the school for her junior year, Collins said.

Collins said Bagby, who sued the school in April 2009, was basically accusing the three top school officials of lying about how the situation was handled.

Joane Garcia-Colson, Bagby’s attorney, told the jury that the school wanted to make an example out of her.

Garcia-Colson said her client was humiliated when her soccer coach suspended her for missing a game.

By not notifying the Bagbys that their daughter wasn’t getting a contract to re-enroll at the school, administrators “broke their own rules” and “betrayed” Bagby, her attorney said.

According to Garcia-Colson, school officials failed to discipline three girls who admitted defacing Bagby’s car.

The girls told school administrators they defaced Bagby’s car only after she wrote on their cars, but that no one asked Bagby for her side of the story, because she was the “bad girl from Ecuador,” according to Garcia-Colson.

Administrators concluded that Bagby, also a member of the cheer team, was a “bad child” and “they needed to get rid of her,” the attorney said.

“She wasn’t given any due process,” Garcia-Colson said. “She was just convicted.”

The teachers who testified in the case said Bagby was a good student, her attorney told the jury.

Garcia-Colson urged the jury to send a message to La Jolla Country Day to let the administrators know they cannot treat students the way they did her client.

“They retaliated against her because she complained,” Garcia-Colson said. “Hold them accountable.”

Also names as defendants in the lawsuit were headmaster Christopher Schuck, and the principal of the high school, Roderick Jemison.

Copyright 2011 by City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.10news.com/news/27591809/detail.html

Barbara Bagby Claims La Jolla Country Day School Did Nothing To Stop Bullying Against Her

SAN DIEGO — Administrators at La Jolla Country Day School followed protocol “to the letter” in dealing with a former student who claimed she was bullied by other students, an attorney for the school said Monday, but a lawyer for the plaintiff said the school retaliated against her client because she complained.

Closing arguments were delivered in the case brought by Desiree Barbara Bagby, who claims officials at the private school did nothing to stop the abuse against her. Her attorney asked the jury for $1 million in damages.

Bagby said derogatory slurs were written on her car and pictures of a penis were drawn on the vehicle, a student drove straight at her in a school parking lot, she was threatened over the Internet and a dead rat was placed in her locker.

John Collins, an attorney for the school, told a jury the lawsuit was a “misuse” of the justice system and was brought for retaliation against La Jolla Country Day.

“They (school administrators) followed protocol to the letter,” Collins told the jury.

Bagby’s father told his daughter’s school adviser that the goal of the legal action was to drag La Jolla Country Day through the mud, Collins told the jury.

Collins said most of the witnesses in the trial contradicted some of Desiree Bagby’s testimony that she was bullied and that school didn’t do enough about it.

Bagby was suspended for five days after admitting stealing beer and drinking during a school-sponsored trip to Ecuador and yelling an obscenity at a heckler during a school soccer game, according to court testimony.

“She was not the center of the universe,” Collins told the jury.

A recommendation to expel Bagby was overturned, but she was ultimately asked to withdraw from the school, which she did.

Bagby claimed she was not sent a re-enrollment contract for her junior year, but Collins said the school principal sent one to her home the day after it came to his attention.

Bagby, now 18 and in college, heard from her mother, not the school, that she was not going to be able to attend the school for her junior year, Collins said.

Collins said Bagby – who filed her lawsuit in April 2009 – was basically accusing the three top school officials of lying about how the situation was handled.

Joane Garcia-Colson, Bagby’s attorney, told the jury that the school wanted to make an example out of her.

Garcia-Colson said her client was humiliated on the bench after her soccer coach suspended her for missing a game.

By not notifying the Bagbys that their daughter wasn’t getting a contract to re-enroll at the school, administrators “broke their own rules” and “betrayed” Bagby, her attorney said.

According to Garcia-Colson, officials failed to do their job because they failed to discipline three girls who admitted defacing Bagby’s car.

“Those girls admitted to misconduct,” the plaintiff’s attorney said.

The girls told school administrators that they defaced Bagby’s car only after she wrote on their cars, but no one asked Bagby for her side of the story because she was the “bad girl from Ecuador,” according to Garcia-Colson.

Administrators concluded that Bagby, who was also a member of the cheer team, was a “bad child” and “they needed to get rid of her,” the attorney said.

“She wasn’t given any due process,” Garcia-Colson said. “She was just convicted.”

All teachers who testified during the trial said Bagby was a good student, her attorney told the jury.

Garcia-Colson urged the jury not to let La Jolla Country Day treat students the way they did her client.

“They retaliated against her because she complained,” Garcia-Colson said. “Hold them accountable.”

The lawsuit names La Jolla Country Day head of school Christopher Schuck, high school Principal Roderick Jemison and the school as defendants.

Jury deliberations were under way in the courtroom of Judge Frederic Link.

Copyright 2011 by City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Eau Claire (WQOW) – A local school district is denying claims after a lawsuit is filed over bullying. 

Wally Ellenson played for the Memorial High School basketball team a few years ago before his family moved to Rice Lake.  His family claims Wally suffered physical and emotional injuries as a result of bullying from his Old Abe teammates and the coach.  Ellenson’s family says the district failed to prevent the bullying after being made aware of it.  They recently filed a civil lawsuit. 

The Eau Claire Area School District has now responded and is denying those claims.  The district says the family was told the proper complaint procedure in bullying cases, but says the Ellenson’s didn’t use it.  It also says Ellenson assumed the risk of injury by playing basketball.

http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14405911

A former student has sued the Black Horse Pike Regional School District, saying other students bullied and sexually abused her for years and the administration did nothing to stop it.

The suit, filed Friday in New Jersey Superior Court in Camden, contends that school officials repeatedly ignored the student and her parents’ cries for help, culminating in a 2009 meeting in which a then-school official told the family, “It takes two to tango.”

Superintendent John Golden, who was named to the post earlier this year, declined to comment on the specifics of the suit. He referred questions to the district’s attorney, who was unavailable for comment.

“We had expected this would eventually come forward,” Golden said.

The lawsuit describes abuses and taunts that the now 19-year-old student experienced with such regularity that she took to hiding out in the nurse’s office. The bullying extended over her entire four years at Timber Creek Regional High School, the lawsuit alleges, and ranged from other girls calling her a “slut” to a male student sitting next to her in class and sticking his hand down her pants.

The student, who is not named in the suit, is undergoing medical treatment to deal with the anxiety and battery of associated medical and psychological conditions that sprang up during the bullying, said her attorney, Jamie Epstein.

“It’s up to the school to protect students from being bullied, intimidated, and harassed,” he said.

The suit also alleges that the district removed the girl from school for an extended period after the parents of one of her alleged tormentors pressed charges against her, claiming she had threatened her daughter.

Bullying has become a national issue in recent years after a series of high-profile incidents, including one in South Hadley, Mass., in which a student committed suicide after repeated harassment by her classmates at school and online.

Lawsuits by bullied students have been filed against school districts across the country. And many states, including New Jersey, have passed laws requiring school districts to maintain anti-bullying programs.

But Epstein, who is representing another student in a bullying lawsuit against Berlin Township schools, said that avenues for legal recourse remained limited for many students.

He sued under antidiscrimination laws, contending that the school had allowed a “hostile environment” to develop where by virtue of her gender and disabilities – which include a host of psychological conditions that developed as she was bullied – she was deprived access to an education.

“There’s very little option for victims of generic bullying,” he said.

Contact staff writer James Osborne at 856-779-3876 or jaosborne@phillynews.com.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/117567673.html

Court documents show Pamela Gray accepted the offer from the Natrona County School District and the settlement was finalized Tuesday.

Gray sued in May and the case had been set for trial in federal court this August.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports Gray alleged her daughter suffered months of harassment from a boy at Fort Caspar Academy. She accused the principal of acting with “deliberate indifference” toward the situation.

Lawyers for the district denied the allegations and said the school took steps to protect the girl. The district said in its settlement offer that it neither admitted to the allegations nor agreed that the girl had suffered damages.

___

Information from: Casper Star-Tribune – Casper, http://www.trib.com

http://www.necn.com/03/02/11/Casper-parent-district-settle-bullying-l/landing_nation.html?&blockID=3&apID=f2363b3b7c2d453aaa371becebe0ae39

Michelle Macleod, left, argues her son Dillon, 14, has been repeatedly bullied since September and his high school has not done enough to stop it. She is now suing the school board and looking to charge Dillon’s bully. (JAMIE LONG/QMI Agency)

OTTAWA – A south-Ottawa mother is planning to sue Ottawas largest school board and have charges brought against her sons alleged bully after a series of incidents since September.

Michelle Macleod says her son Dillon, 14, has been repeatedly targeted by another teenage boy at Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School in Barrhaven, and the school has not done enough.

The Grade 8 student told QMI Agency his locker was smashed an event captured on video and the other student spread rumours that Dillon was gay.

It started with pushing and shoving, then ripping my hood off, throwing my hat in the water, but then it escalated, said Dillon, who was afraid to tell his mom about the incidents.

The feud then boiled over Jan. 27 when the alleged bully asked Dillon to fight during the lunch break. He obliged and now has a laundry list of injuries, including a broken right hand.

Macleod didnt know about the fight until Monday four days later when the school contacted her about suspending Dillon for the school week.

They took absolutely no blame for their actions at all, Macleod said after meeting with the schools principal, vice-principal and school resource officer.

The officer even said bullying is not against the law and they said no bullying has been done regarding Dillon whatsoever.

The other student was suspended for an unknown length of time, but Macleod said he hadnt been suspended for any of his earlier actions.

I had previous conversations with the vice-principal regarding him being bullied, but in the meeting … they wouldnt admit to it.

The schools resource officer did not return phone calls over the past few days.

The board did say: There are two sides to every story, but wouldnt elaborate because the case involved an individual student.

All Ontario schools have an anti-bullying policy, which is legally required under the provinces Safe Schools Act.

The board told QMI Agency there is a progressive discipline approach, but Macleod argued it wasnt followed in this case.

Macleod said she went into the meeting looking for an apology and possibly some changes to the schools bullying policy. But the lack of remorse or receptiveness left her upset, she said, which led her to family lawyer Paul Jakubiak.

Jakubiak represented Kanata mother Krisha Stanton, who sued Ottawas Catholic School Board for $325,000 after her daughter was bullied in 2007. The case was settled out of court in November.

Jakubiak confirmed he is representing Macleod, but wouldnt comment any further.

They are meeting Friday to file the lawsuit.

jamie.long@sunmedia.ca

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/02/03/17144886.html

Legal maneuvering continued Wednesday afternoon in York-Poquoson Circuit Court in the civil lawsuit brought by a York County mother who alleges that negligence by school officials contributed to her son’s suicide.

The defendants’ lawyer continued his argument that sovereign immunity clears the school officials of liability for simple negligence in the case, and substitute Judge Randolph T. West ruled on access to documents that he had reviewed since the last court date on Jan. 5.

West has given every indication that the case will end up before a jury, and continued to do so Wednesday. No trial date has been set, but West indicated the court will have a permanent judge in place by the time it gets underway.

Alise Williams is suing four current and former York County School Division officials for $10 million for wrongful death. Her son, Christian Taylor, a 16-year-old freshman at Grafton High School, took his life May 31, 2010, and Williams has accused school officials of failing to protect him from bullying at school.

Named in the lawsuit are 2009-10 Grafton High staffers: Principal Paul Hopkins, assistant principals Craig Reed and Karen Fahringer, and counselor Joseph Erfe.

The four defendants were present at the Jan. 5 hearing, but were not called to testify. Their lawyer, David Corrigan, said he was called in advance of Wednesday’s hearing and told they weren’t needed.

“This case is high-profile and you’d have a hard time finding jurors who haven’t read or heard anything about it,” West said. “The more we open up here, the more difficult it will be to find them. After reading the brief, I didn’t think I’d need witnesses to make a decision this afternoon.”

West said the case will go forward with the pleadings as they are, though the lawyers briefly debated sovereign immunity.

West ruled on the availability of documents that were subpoenaed from the York County School Board and York-Poquoson Social Services. He said some of them will be made available to lawyers from both sides, but can only be viewed at the courthouse for note-taking purposes with no photocopies being made.

He further restricted access by warning the lawyers that no one else should see their notes, and denied a request by Williams’ lawyers that an expert witness be allowed to see the documents.

“These are juveniles and I’m trying to protect their names,” West said.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/york-county/dp-nws-bullying-hearing-0217-20110216,0,7979247.story