The sometimes heartbreaking consequences of bullying have gotten more publicity in recent years. With that publicity has come an increasing public awareness of this problem and, in some cases, there have been lawsuits filed over bullying.
Examples of Bullying Lawsuits
The Houston Chronicle reported on March 29 of 2013 that a lawsuit filed by the parents of a student who committed suicide had been dropped. While the lawsuit had been dropped, it does give some insight into the dynamics of what may go into these types of lawsuits.
This lawsuit had alleged that the school district had ignored persistent bullying that the young victim had suffered. According to the reporting, the lawsuit alleged that the child had been bullied to death. The reporting also revealed that there were other factors involved in the death that may have not been related to bullying at all, eventually causing the lawsuit to be dropped.
In another case, an Iowa teenager’s family is in the process of pursuing a lawsuit against the administrators at the student’s high school and the school district, alleging negligence. In this particular case, bullying is said to have eventually led to the teenager suffering significant brain injuries, leaving him permanently disabled. The incident that led to the brain damage is alleged to have occurred when teammates on the teenagers’ football team repeatedly threw footballs directly at the victim’s head. According to the lawsuit, this led to injuries that have significantly diminished the teenager’s quality of life, according to reporting in Yahoo Sports.
Negligence
From a legal perspective, an individual is negligent when they have the opportunity to take an action that any normal person could take that would keep someone from coming to harm and when they fail to do so. It can also apply when somebody takes an action that to any reasonable person would put someone else in danger. To some degree, these losses all allege that whether it is the school administrators, coaches, classmates or anyone else, there was some form of negligence that directly led to an individual being harmed.
With bullying getting more attention in the press and with suicides and homicides both being implicated as potential outcomes of bullying, it’s likely that more of these lawsuits are going to be filed in the future. How courts find in regards to these lawsuits may set precedents that could have significant impacts for the next generation of children who have to deal with this particular threat.
If you are dealing with a similar situation and are unsure of the next steps, call the Law Offices of Blaine A Tucker for a FREE consultation at 713-771-5453