II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1721

To provide protection for teachers, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 13, 1999

Mr. COVERDELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide protection for teachers, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teacher Liability Pro5 tection Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings:

9 (1) The ability of teachers, principals and other

10 school professionals to teach, inspire and shape the

11 intellect of our Nation’s elementary and secondary
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1 school students is deterred and hindered by frivolous

2 lawsuits and litigation.

3 (2) Each year more and more teachers, prin4 cipals and other school professionals face lawsuits

5 for actions undertaken as part of their duties to pro6 vide millions of school children quality educational

7 opportunities.

8 (3) Too many teachers, principals and other

9 school professionals face increasingly severe and ran10 dom acts of violence in the classroom and in schools.

11 (4) Providing teachers, principals and other

12 school professionals a safe and secure environment is

13 an important part of the effort to improve and ex14 pand educational opportunities.

15 (5) Clarifying and limiting the liability of teach16 ers, principals and other school professionals who

17 undertake reasonable actions to maintain order, dis18 cipline and an appropriate educational environment

19 is an appropriate subject of Federal legislation

20 because—

21 (A) the national scope of the problems cre22 ated by the legitimate fears of teachers, prin23 cipals and other school professionals about friv24 olous, arbitrary or capricious lawsuits against

25 teachers; and
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1 (B) millions of children and their families

2 across the Nation depend on teachers, prin3 cipals and other school professionals for the in4 tellectual development of the children.

5 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide

6 teachers, principals and other school professionals the

7 tools they need to undertake reasonable actions to main8 tain order, discipline and an appropriate educational envi9 ronment.

10 SEC. 3. PREEMPTION AND ELECTION OF STATE NON11 APPLICABILITY.

12 (a) PREEMPTION.—This Act preempts the laws of

13 any State to the extent that such laws are inconsistent

14 with this Act, except that this Act shall not preempt any

15 State law that provides additional protection from liability

16 relating to teachers.

17 (b) ELECTION OF STATE REGARDING NONAPPLICA18 BILITY.—This Act shall not apply to any civil action in

19 a State court against a teacher in which all parties are

20 citizens of the State if such State enacts a statute in ac21 cordance with State requirements for enacting

22 legislation—

23 (1) citing the authority of this subsection;
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1 (2) declaring the election of such State that this

2 Act shall not apply, as of a date certain, to such civil

3 action in the State; and

4 (3) containing no other provisions.

5 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR TEACHERS.

6 (a) LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR TEACHERS.—Ex7 cept as provided in subsections (b) and (c), no teacher in

8 a school shall be liable for harm caused by an act or omis9 sion of the teacher on behalf of the school if—

10 (1) the teacher was acting within the scope of

11 the teacher’s employment or responsibilities related

12 to providing educational services;

13 (2) the actions of the teacher were carried out

14 in conformity with local, State, or Federal laws,

15 rules or regulations in furtherance of efforts to con16 trol, discipline, expel, or suspend a student or main17 tain order or control in the classroom or school;

18 (3) if appropriate or required, the teacher was

19 properly licensed, certified, or authorized by the ap20 propriate authorities for the activities or practice in

21 the State in which the harm occurred, where the ac22 tivities were or practice was undertaken within the

23 scope of the teacher’s responsibilities;

24 (4) the harm was not caused by willful or crimi25 nal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless mis-
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1 conduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the

2 rights or safety of the individual harmed by the

3 teacher; and

4 (5) the harm was not caused by the teacher op5 erating a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other ve6 hicle for which the State requires the operator or the

7 owner of the vehicle, craft, or vessel to—

8 (A) possess an operator’s license; or

9 (B) maintain insurance.

10 (b) CONCERNING RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS TO

11 SCHOOLS AND GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES.—Nothing in

12 this section shall be construed to affect any civil action

13 brought by any school or any governmental entity against

14 any teacher of such school.

15 (c) EXCEPTIONS TO TEACHER LIABILITY PROTEC16 TION.—If the laws of a State limit teacher liability subject

17 to one or more of the following conditions, such conditions

18 shall not be construed as inconsistent with this section:

19 (1) A State law that requires a school or gov20 ernmental entity to adhere to risk management pro21 cedures, including mandatory training of teachers.

22 (2) A State law that makes the school or gov23 ernmental entity liable for the acts or omissions of

24 its teachers to the same extent as an employer is lia25 ble for the acts or omissions of its employees.
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1 (3) A State law that makes a limitation of li2 ability inapplicable if the civil action was brought by

3 an officer of a State or local government pursuant

4 to State or local law.

5 (d) LIMITATION ON PUNITIVE DAMAGES BASED ON

6 THE ACTIONS OF TEACHERS.—

7 (1) GENERAL RULE.—Punitive damages may

8 not be awarded against a teacher in an action

9 brought for harm based on the action of a teacher

10 acting within the scope of the teacher’s responsibil11 ities to a school or governmental entity unless the

12 claimant establishes by clear and convincing evidence

13 that the harm was proximately caused by an action

14 of such teacher which constitutes willful or criminal

15 misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to

16 the rights or safety of the individual harmed.

17 (2) CONSTRUCTION.—Paragraph (1) does not

18 create a cause of action for punitive damages and

19 does not preempt or supersede any Federal or State

20 law to the extent that such law would further limit

21 the award of punitive damages.

22 (e) EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The limitations on the liabil24 ity of a teacher under this Act shall not apply to any

25 misconduct that—
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1 (A) constitutes a crime of violence (as that

2 term is defined in section 16 of title 18, United

3 States Code) or act of international terrorism

4 (as that term is defined in section 2331 of title

5 18, United States Code) for which the defend6 ant has been convicted in any court;

7 (B) involves a sexual offense, as defined by

8 applicable State law, for which the defendant

9 has been convicted in any court;

10 (C) involves misconduct for which the de11 fendant has been found to have violated a Fed12 eral or State civil rights law; or

13 (D) where the defendant was under the in14 fluence (as determined pursuant to applicable

15 State law) of intoxicating alcohol or any drug at

16 the time of the misconduct.

17 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this

18 subsection shall be construed to affect subsection

19 (a)(3) or (d).

20 SEC. 5. LIABILITY FOR NONECONOMIC LOSS.

21 (a) GENERAL RULE.—In any civil action against a

22 teacher, based on an action of a teacher acting within the

23 scope of the teacher’s responsibilities to a school or gov24 ernmental entity, the liability of the teacher for non-
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1 economic loss shall be determined in accordance with sub2 section (b).

3 (b) AMOUNT OF LIABILITY.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each defendant who is a

5 teacher, shall be liable only for the amount of non6 economic loss allocated to that defendant in direct

7 proportion to the percentage of responsibility of that

8 defendant (determined in accordance with paragraph

9 (2)) for the harm to the claimant with respect to

10 which that defendant is liable. The court shall

11 render a separate judgment against each defendant

12 in an amount determined pursuant to the preceding

13 sentence.

14 (2) PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSIBILITY.—For

15 purposes of determining the amount of noneconomic

16 loss allocated to a defendant who is a teacher under

17 this section, the trier of fact shall determine the per18 centage of responsibility of that defendant for the

19 claimant’s harm.

20 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

21 For purposes of this Act:

22 (1) ECONOMIC LOSS.—The term ‘‘economic

23 loss’’ means any pecuniary loss resulting from harm

24 (including the loss of earnings or other benefits re25 lated to employment, medical expense loss, replace-
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1 ment services loss, loss due to death, burial costs,

2 and loss of business or employment opportunities) to

3 the extent recovery for such loss is allowed under ap4 plicable State law.

5 (2) HARM.—The term ‘‘harm’’ includes phys6 ical, nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic losses.

7 (3) NONECONOMIC LOSSES.—The term ‘‘non8 economic losses’’ means losses for physical and emo9 tional pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical im10 pairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of en11 joyment of life, loss of society and companionship,

12 loss of consortium (other than loss of domestic serv13 ice), hedonic damages, injury to reputation and all

14 other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or nature.

15 (4) SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘school’’ means a pub16 lic or private kindergarten, a public or private ele17 mentary school or secondary school (as defined in

18 section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary

19 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801)), or a

20 home school.

21 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

22 the several States of the United States, the District

23 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

24 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American

25 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
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1 Islands, any other territory or possession of the

2 United States, or any political subdivision of any

3 such State, territory, or possession.

4 (6) TEACHER.—The term ‘‘teacher’’ means a

5 teacher, instructor, principal, administrator, or other

6 educational professional, that works in a school.

7 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall take effect 90 days

9 after the date of enactment of this Act.

10 (b) APPLICATION.—This Act applies to any claim for

11 harm caused by an act or omission of a teacher where

12 that claim is filed on or after the effective date of this

13 Act, without regard to whether the harm that is the sub14 ject of the claim or the conduct that caused the harm oc15 curred before such effective date.

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