Section One
Define reasonable care
It is the degree of care a teacher or ordinary prudence would have used under any like circumstances. THe circumstances considered would include the maturity and experience of the students and the extent of the danger involved.
Can a student under the age of seven years old prove contributory negligence and why?
No because they're too young to understand and reason with the consequences of their negligence to an action.
Explain the differences between punitive damages and nominal damages.
Punitive damages are awarded where defendants have shown clear malice, fraud, or reckless disregard for an injured person's safety or constitutional rights. The purpose of this award is to punish the defendants for their wrongful actions and to deter similar actions in the future. Nominal damages, on the other hand, are small symbolic awards such as $1 where the plaintiff has been wronged but has not been able to show actual damages.
What term explains, the purpose of this award is to compensate injured persons for their actual losses, such as medical expenses lost salary, and other provable costs incurred as a result of the defendant's negligence.
compensatory damages
Define liable.
Held responsible/ accountable for the results of an action.
Explain what happened in the Eisel v. Bd. of Educ. of Montgomery County case.
Was a Maryland case that used the concept of duty of care to hold two high school counselors liable for failing to attempt to prevent a student's suicide. In this case, the father of the 13-year-old student sued the counselor when his daughter killed herself after creating a suicide pact with another student. The counselor questions his daughter, but she denied making any suicide threats but they didn't do anything else. In this case, the counselors should have made the parents aware of this altercation.
Explain what comparative negligence using a school liability case.
These laws permit the judge or jury to compare the relative negligence of the plaintiff and the defendant in causing the injury to reduce the award to the plaintiff in proportion to their negligence. In the case, Rollins v. Concordia Parish School Board, proved this which involved a 9-year-old girl who broke her leg jumping o the merry-go-round. The court used comparative negligence to the student in comparison to the school board. The court found both the student for jumping off the playground equipment and the school negligent since there was a lack of supervision of the student, they bother were equally responsible for the injury.
Can schools be held liable for educational malpractice?
In most cases, no. It is nearly impossible for students suing schools to prove that the school failed to provide students with adequate instruction. In one case, Peter W v. San Francisco Unified School District, a high school graduate filed a claim stating that his school did not provide him with that adequate instruction since he was on a 5th-grade reading level. This case fell through because there were no clear standards to determine whether the school had truly been negligent, there was no way to determine that a teacher's negligence was the proximate cause of the student's injury.
What case explained how personal humiliation and impairment of personal repuation was not sufficient evidence to prove actual injury?
Perez v. Rodriguez Bou was a case in which several Puerto Rican college students sued for damages when they were unlawfully suspended for 12 days. Unfortunately, they were unable to prove an actual injury such as, "delaying in meeting academic requirements or... harm to plaintiffs reputation in the community..." They were also unable to show that their suspension was caused by school officials acting in bad faith or trying to harass them. The court refused to award the students for compensatory damages for general distress.
Use a case to help explain what mental anguish and suffering are referring to when answering if schools can be held liable for emotional injuries suffered by students.
School districts can be required to pay the damages to cover the cost of therapy or other services for mental anguish. Spears v. Jefferson Parish School Board, a physical education teacher was found liable for kindergarten students' emotional injuries after the teacher pretended that he had hanged the two students' friends. After the incident, the student developed a variety of psychological problems that medical experts identified as caused by the stress of viewing his, "dead friends," and the school was required to pay for damages costs of psychotherapy for the mental anguish suffered by the child.
Define contributory negligence using a case as an example and also using a proximate cause term.
A case called, Miles v. School District No. 138 o Cheyenne County had a high school senior student names Jpdeen Miles who was working on her senior project in Shop II when she attempted to remove a piece of wood from an operating machine with her hands, which went against a safe practice that was found in safety booklet given to students, and as results severed two fingers. This student sued her instructor for negligent supervision. The teacher assigned each student to read that safety booklet and had given a safety exam in which the teacher had watched her operate the machine correctly. The court ruled that Miles was negligent in failing to use ordinary care that a student of her age and matuirty would have used under like circumstances The court dismissed her case and stated that her contributory negligence was the proximate cause of her injuries she sustained in this accident.
Explain Section 1983.
This is an 1871 federal Civil Rights Act for violations of students' and teachers' constitutional rights.
Can schools be held liable for negligent hiring?
Yes, under this common law theory, employers can be liable to employees or to third persons when they are negligent in hiring/retaining employees whom they know or should have known are unfit and who put others at unreasonable risk. One case that proved this was, School Board of Orange County v. Coffey which found that an employee was predisposed to commit a wrong and this wrong was reasonably foreseeable. This particular case found that the school board was found negligent in the retention of a teacher who had sexually abused a student.
Define sovereign immunity that is found in Chapter 14.
Was proven in a case in 2000 where the U.S Supreme Court ruled in the Kimmel case that the states' Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity which prohibits individuals from using states under the ADEA. However, a citizen may sue under the ADEA when the defendant is not the state itself but a less entity such as a municipality.
Plaintiffs who are entitled to attorneys fees if they achieved success on any significant issue in the case such as $1 when merely identifying a violation of a civil right which did not change the relationship between the parties are still seen as prevailing parties but not entitled to fees.
Does the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 protect teachers? Give an example that highlights this.
Yes, this act immunizes from liability any teacher who was acting within the scope of the teacher's employment or responsibilities to a school. (CASE), showed this law prevents teachers from being held liable for damages in action or brought for hard based on the act or omission of a teacher acting in the scope of their employment... unless the claimant establishes clear and convincing evidence that the hard constitutes willful or criminal misconduct or conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights and safety of the individual harmed.
Are teachers liable if they fail or report child abuse?
Yes, all states in the United States are required to report known or suspected cases of child abuse or neglect and those who fail to do so can be subject to criminal and possible civil penalties under the law.
Can teachers use governmental immunity unity as a defense against negligence? Is there a case that supports this answer?
No, governmental immunity is a common law theory that holds that since the state and its agencies are sovereign, they cannot be sued without their consent and should be held liable for the negligence of their employees. Zimmer-Rubert v. Board of Education of Baltimore County showed that students may sue individual teachers, who can be held personally liable for their negligence.
Use a case to help explain what the good faith standard is.
AFSCME Council 25 v. Chippewa County, explains that good faith does not require that the union reach an agreement with the school board, but it does mean the union can't merely go through the motions of a meeting with school officials. The union must consider and respond to school boards' proposals from the case that works to provide an agreement for employment that meets the requirements of the interests of the employer and the union.
Use a case to explain Section 1983.
DeShaney v Winnebago County Dept. of Social Services, liability may be imposed upon the state of the actions of third parties who deprive individuals of life, liberty, or property only when the state has special relationships with that individual.