Presumably, because the amount of recovery is so limited, there are only a handful of court cases where school employees have sued parents under these laws. But victims of student violence can sue parents and avoid this limit on damages if they can show that it was the parents' negligence that caused their injuries. The leading case applying this principle involved a Wisconsin teacher who was attacked by a fourth grade special ed student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The court said the parents were negligent because they took their son off Dexedrine, the medication that had reduced his violent tendencies, without telling school officials and giving them the opportunity to develop effective behavior modification techniques. General Counsel False Accusations Students aren't the only ones who physically or verbally abuse school employees.
Parents sometimes get into the act.
And when they do, they can be made to pay. Possibly the most extreme example involves the bizarre and unconscionable behavior of an Oregon parent named Wilbur Gaston. He also leveled the same false allegations in leaflets he distributed in her neighborhood. Gaston apparently was disturbed because Spees had been named the foster parent of his child. Oregon Education Association attorney Barbara Diamond quickly obtained a temporary restraining order prohibiting Gaston from publicly making the false statements.