Key Terms
This is the amount of care a teacher is expected to give under a certain circumstance.
What is reasonable care?
What is duty of care?
This is a six letter word for being held responsible, commonly associated with legal situations.
What is liable?
What is the Sheehan Case?
Despite signing this form, a student was still allowed to sue for an injury he received while at a parachuting training school in Gross v. Sweet.
What is a waiver?
In a negligence lawsuit, this is the term for an event that is determined to have caused an injury.
What is proximate cause?
What is contributory negligence?
More than 40 states apply this doctrine relating to responsibility for an injury, which determines what percentage of liability lies on each party.
What is comparative negligence?
What is the Mancha Case?
In a rare ruling, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that when a child's behavior worsened, the school was guilty of this due to placing a special needs student in a separate classroom from her classmates. (B.M. v. State of Montana)
What is nominal damages?
This is a theory that says that states and their entities aren't responsible for negligence of their employees.
What is governmental immunity?
What are punitive damages?
In this case a student-athlete was injured after scoring a goal, hanging on the crossbar, then having the goal fall on him. The courts found that the school wasn't liable due to the negligent behavior of the student-athlete.
What is the Coleman case?
In Nieuwendorp v. American Family Insurance, this party was found liable when the parents took their child off of ADHD medication without notifying the school or doctor and then a teacher was injured.
Who are the parents?
Schools have rarely been found guilty of this. It is something that doctors and lawyers are commonly charged with.
What is educational malpractice?
This section of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 can hold schools liable for violating someone's constitutional rights.
What is Section 1983?
This monetary award is given when a person is able to prove how much money they are entitled to as a result of being injured.
What are compensatory damages?
In this case, two students were suspended without due process. The Supreme Court ruled that school officials could be held responsible under Section 1983 for violating those students' constitutional rights.
What is Wood v. Strickland?
When a plaintiff wins their case, who can be made responsible for paying the fees of the plaintiff under Section 1983? (Texas State Teachers Association v. Garland Independent School District)
Who is the defense?
This is the party that wins in a lawsuit.
What is prevailing party?
This term is used when someone's reputation has been harmed due to someone's illegal activity.
What is impairment of reputation?
When someone acts in a reckless way, they could be held responsible under this law.
What is willful conduct?
In this cases, students were denied any compensatory damages after being suspended without due process since they were unable to prove how much money they were owed. Instead they were only eligible for nominal damages.
What is Carey v. Piphus?
Under this section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, school board members were held responsible for sexual harassment among students in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education.
What is Title IX?