Court Cases and Terms
This term describes an honest dealing or agreement. In the court case Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982), Fitzgerald testified against his company and got fired. He sued Harlow because he believed he was fired in retaliation for testifying. Harlow claimed that retaliation was not involved in the firing and it was based on ________.
What is good faith and standard?
An award to compensate an injured person for their losses as a result of the defendant's negligence.
What are compensatory damages?
A court case where a teacher and school were liable and negligent after a teacher left her students unattended. This resulted in a girl getting injured when a pebble was thrown at her eye.
What is Sheehan v. Peter's Catholic Sch (Minn. 1971)?
Employers can be liable when they hire an employee whom they know is unfit or could put other people at risk of harm.
What is negligent hiring?
The side that gets what they were looking for in the court case and allows them to recover their fees from the court case.
What is the prevailing party?
In the court case Miles v. Sch. Dist. No. 138 of Cheyenne County (Nev. 1979), where Jodeen Miles severed two fingers by trying to remove wood from machinery even though she already knew the safety protocols. The court ruled that Jodeen was at fault with contributory negligence as the _____ of her injury.
What is the proximate cause?
An award is given to an injured person because the defendant showed malice or recklessness disregard for the injured person's safety.
What are punitive damages?
A court case where a chemistry teacher was found negligent and liable when a student removed a stopper containing hydrogen gas and lit a match resulting in an injury to another student. The teacher was found negligent because they briefly gave instructions and didn't explain the potential risks involved.
What is Sheehan v. Coventry Bd. of Education (2009)?
Schools can be held liable when teachers fail to maintain professionalism and injure a student intellectually or psychologically.
What is educational malpractice?
The mental pain and agony that is a result of an injury from a traumatic situation or event.
What is mental anguish and suffering?
This term describes the precaution that a person would provide to a situation or circumstance. A case dealing with this is Gibbons v. Orleans Parish Sch. Bd (La. App. 1980). In this court case, a school board was found liable when a 6-year-old girl was injured when she was on the monkey bars and swung onto a tetherball pole, and slid into a nail that was sticking out of the pole. There was only one teacher in charge of the playground and there were too many children to supervise for one person.
What is reasonable care?
A small award where the plaintiff has been wronged but cannot show damages.
What are nominal damages?
A court case where two teachers planned a field trip to a museum and allowed the students to roam around freely without supervision. A student was beaten during the museum trip by people who were not on the field trip. The court ruled that the teachers were not liable for the student's injuries because they didn't have the duty to anticipate the beating or supervise every student on the trip.
What is Mancha v. Field Museum of Natural History (Ill. App. 1972)?
A rule that protects the Government from being sued or liable for government employees being negligent.
What is governmental immunity?
An embarrassment occurs privately between the plaintiff and the defendant.
What is personal humiliation?
This concept is applied in the court case Eisel v. Bd. of Educ. of Montgomery County (Md. 1991), where two counselors failed to attempt to prevent a student's suicide. In this case, two students made a suicide pact and their friends told the counselors. The counselors questioned the girls but they denied wanting to attempt suicide and the counselors looked no further into the subject. The court ruled that the counselors were liable because they failed their _____.
What is the duty of care?
The blame is shared between the plaintiff and the defendant for the injury. The injured person can be awarded but it depends on their portion of negligence.
What is comparative negligence?
A court case where a student was injured while skateboarding at the elementary school after school hours. The court ruled that the school district was not liable because supervision is limited to school hours and school-related functions.
What is Bartell v. Palos Verdes Peninsula Sch. Dist. (App. 1972)?
A rule that the Government can only be sued when it consents to the lawsuit.
What is sovereign immunity?
A legal phrase for the defamation of someone's character.
What is impairment of reputation?
In the case, Toller v. Plainfield Sch. Dist. (Ill. app. 1991), neither the school district nor the PE teacher were found ____ when a student was injured during wrestling unit in PE. This is because the teacher provided the rules, and demonstrations properly.
What is liable?
A plaintiff cannot receive an award because their own negligence was the cause of their injury.
What is contributory negligence?
A court case where a small child was injured during indoor recess when another child hit his eye with a plastic hammer. The court ruled that neither the school board nor the teacher was liable because the accident was not foreseeable.
What is Santiago v. Cooper (Tenn. Ct. App. 2004)?
This term is when individuals' civil rights are violated and they have the right to sue a state government employee such as teachers and school officials. This term is described in the court case Doe v. Claiborne County, Tenn (6th Cir. 1996), where the court did not hold the school board, superintendent, or the principal liable when a high school teacher sexually abused a 14-year-old student.
What is Section 1983?
Conscious and intentional decision-making.
What is willful conduct?