Miscellaneous
If four things are proven: A) the teacher had a duty of care to the student, B) the duty of care was not exercised, C) the injury was caused as a result of the teacher's lack of care, D) The student obtained damages that are provable.
What is liable?
Awarded as punishment and with the intent to deter further wrongful acts when defendant's behavior was malicious, fraudulent, or showed disregard for the victim's rights and safety.
What are punitive damages?
Hiring or retaining teachers whom the school board or superintendent know to be negligent, unfit, or predisposed to committing a wrongful act.
What is negligent hiring?
A teacher failed to exercise _____ _____ when she left a group of girls and boys unsupervised on an athletic court and a group of boys began throwing pebbles at the girls, resulting in one girl, Margaret Sheehan, being injured in the eye. In Sheehan v. St. Peter’s Catholic School (1971), the court found the school was negligent.
What is reasonable care
Prevents the government from being sued without their consent.
What is sovereign immunity?
May be entitled to attorney fees if they are successful in any major area of their case according to Section 1983.
What is prevailing party?
Awarded in the case of Perez V. Rodriguez Bou (1978) as a symbolic gesture that the plaintiff was wronged, but did not suffer any damages.
What are nominal damages?
In this case two teens were unlawfully suspended, but they could not prove that they had any real injuries (either mentally, emotionally, or physically) that needed to be compensated for, thus they only received nominal damages.
When 17 year old Jodeen Miles was found partially at fault for her accident and thus could not collect damages. (Miles v. Sch. Dist. No. 138 of Cheyenne County (1979))
What is contributory negligence?
The student had been shown the proper safety procedures for operating the equipment, had demonstrated the procedures and passed a safety test, and was old enough to be responsible. Thus the court claimed contributory negligence when she used equipment in a shop room improperly and severed two fingers.
The same duty of care to prevent students from possible injury as a classroom teacher.
What do substitutes have?
In Doe v. Board of Education (1990), by leaving the door unlocked, the principal had been implementing a government policy which should not be second-guessed by the courts, so the school was protected from liability.
What is governmental immunity?
Doe v. Board of Education (1990) was a case where a principal left a door unlocked and was assaulted by an unknown intruder. The school was found not guilty under the principle of governmental immunity.
The impairment of this, as well as emotional and mental distress, financial loss, and physical injury are all possible reasons to be awarded damages.
What is reputation?
These kinds of damages were awarded in the case of Chadwell v. Lee County School Board (2008) when the court found that Mary Laster had suffered considerable emotional pain and personal humiliation for being wrongfully demoted by an influential school board member due to her personal political affiliations.
What are compensatory damages?
In Rollins v. Concordia Parish School Board (1985), compensatory damages were reduced by 50% because the girl shared the blame for the accident.
What is comparative negligence?
The court found the school board and the girl equally negligent after the girl jumped off a merry-go-round and injured her leg. This comparative negligence reduced the damages awarded to her. However, many states do not award any damages if the student is just as much at fault.
A case where a 12-year-old boy was fatally injured in a skateboard accident on school property after hours. The school was found not held liable because the school could not be held responsible for students after hours and could not be held responsible for supervising the grounds 24 hours a day.
What is Bartell v. Palos Verdes Peninsula School District (1978).
A standard that protects teachers from liability in cases of reporting suspected abuse of a student, provided it was made honestly.
What is the "good faith standard?"
Willful or criminal misconduct of a teacher that is the proximate cause of injury to a student will prevent them from obtaining the protection of this provision of NCLB.
What is the Coverdell Teacher Protection Act?
In this case, the court found a PE teacher liable for emotional injuries, including considerable mental anguish and suffering, to a student because he pranked the student into thinking that he had hung his friends.
What is Spears v. Jefferson Parish School Board (1994)
Schools are generally not held liable for this but an exception was in the case of B. M. v. State of Montana (1982) were the court recognized a claim based on the negligent placement of a special education student.
What is educational malpractice?
The court found the school did not exercise its duty of care in correctly assessing and placing the student.
When the injury cannot be determined to be the result of the teacher's lack of supervision, as exemplified in the case of Kaufman v. City of New York (1961) when the school was found not liable for a student who injured himself by bumping heads with another student during a basketball game.
What is proximate cause?
In order to be held liable, it must be proven that the teacher had a duty of care to the student, failed that duty of care, and that this was the proximate cause of the injury, and the student obtained provable injuries.
Protects the liability of the state in instances where third parties have deprived the life, liberty, or property of individuals who have a special relationship with the state.
Section 1983