New York injury lawyers have many new questions in the wake of the recent school bullying cases. Although the Phoebe Prince suicide case has taken national headlines, New York is not immune to the plague of school bullying.
Now, New York personal injury attorneys are beginning to ask the question:
When can you hold the school liable for the inadvertence to protect its students from excessive bullying?
Public schools might fall under the legal realm of "municipalities" and the general rule of thumb for municipal tort liability is this:
"If you owe a duty to all, you owe a duty to nobody".
Indeed, many New York personal injury attorneys will recall the February 2006 bar exam question dealing with that issue-- municipal tort liability is an area that New York injury lawyers are expected to know very well. But here's the caveat: Where a municipality undertakes a proprietary function, then inaction to protect an individual could raise liability issues for the municipality. Similarly, if a special relationship exists with the plaintiff and the municipality, the plaintiff could have justifiably relied on a promise of the municipality to act for the plaintiff's benefit. The injured party could presumably sue for the inaction of the municipality; assuming that the municipality knew that inaction could foreseeably harm the plaintiff.
So, let's look at the recent New York bullying cases:
- A five year old girl, Jazmin Lovings, lost a fist full of hair after kindergarten classmates beat her and cut her hair. According to the girl's grandmother, the Department of Education has done nothing to punish the bullies and has not provided good options for a transfer school.
- Mary Kate Bell, a teenager from West Islip, had her face slammed into the pavement by 15 year old classmate. Bell needed reconstructive surgery after the attack.
- Alexis Pilkington, 17, of West Islip, committed suicide after being taunted on the Internet. Even after her death, taunting comments were posted on her Facebook memorial site.
It's hard for New York injury lawyers to believe that classroom bullying is incognito. Clearly, there must be some knowledge of the bullying on the part of teachers and administration. At least that's what Jazmin Lovings' grandmother believes. She insists that the hair-cutting incident was not an isolated case of bullying and that her granddaughter had been the victim of bullying for a period leading up to the incident. As for poor little Jazmin, she has yet to return to school; becoming teary-eyed at the mention of the possibility.
So, how many more Jazmins and Phoebes do we need before we begin to hold the schools accountable for turning a blind eye?
Related Resources
- Schoolgirl's Arrest Raises Liability for NYPD (The New York Personal Injury Law Blog)
- Cyberbullying Suicide: How Do You Protect Your Kids? (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life Blog)
- Find New York Injury Lawyers (FindLaw)
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