Source: https://friedlanderlaw.com/protect-the-innocent/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 14:54:29+00:00

Document:
Bullying is now recognized as a serious problem, and bullying litigation is an emerging area of law. Here are some points to consider when you are presented with a case that involves someone who was preyed on.
For many people, the term “bullying” recalls that schoolyard tough kid who taunted and threatened other kids and frequently got sent to the principal’s office. Authorities probably ignored the bully’s conduct or wrote it off as a rite of passage into adolescence.
Bullying can have dire and enduring consequences. At one extreme, lawsuits and news reports highlight student suicides provoked by bullying or harassment. At the other end of the spectrum, studies of bullies and victims show that childhood victims frequently become bullies, abusers, or perpetrators of violence themselves, particularly when other avenues of recourse for being bullied are unavailable or ineffective. In between, a host of physical and psychological injuries may result from being bullied, ranging from bones broken in physical assaults to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, low self-esteem, sleeplessness, eating and behavior disorders, and poor school performance.
Because power imbalance is inherent in bullying, it’s not surprising that bullies often are bigger, older, or more streetwise than their victims. It’s also not surprising that victims often are members of vulnerable or minority groups. But bullies and their victims sometimes share characteristics: social or economic marginalization, isolation, low self-esteem, lack of support at home, frequent moves, and poor school attendance or performance.
Bullying laws in 45 states direct school districts to adopt bullying policies, with 41 states providing model policies.15 A bullying victim’s first line of recourse should be invoking the school’s reporting and investigation process, as well as requesting any supportive services—such as security, counseling, or mental health services—that are required or advised by law or policy. Of course, if the bullying involves assault, use of weapons, threats of violence, criminal harassment, or stalking, parents, counsel, and school authorities should call in law enforcement. This initiates any appropriate criminal investigation and, concurrently, sets the stage for intentional tort litigation.
Mandates imposed by federal civil rights law often are implicated in bullying cases.23 They include the anti-harassment­ protections of Title VI (race-based discrimination), Title IX (gender-based discrimination), the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other disability-directed statutes. Harassment based on particular religions or ethnicities, such as anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, or anti-Sikh harassment, may give rise to an action grounded in Title VI or Title IV; and additional civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and §1985 may be sustainable when other constitutional or statutory rights are violated.
Common to all these legal theories is an element of knowledge and inaction by school authorities. Primary sources of evidence include district policies, reports, and student records. District antibullying policies—and related materials such as student codes of conduct, statistical reports mandated by state law, and information included in antibullying training materials—generally are matters of public record, available by Freedom of Information Act request or routine discovery demand.
But the bigger challenge may be working with the plaintiff victim or parents, or with the school-age children who are likely to be the primary witnesses of bullying. There is the issue of young children’s competence to testify and the challenge of dealing with depressed, anxious, or frightened victims, but also a substantial time lapse between the incident and the report and an even longer period between the report and trial. This delay opens an already fragile witness to cross-examination over hazy detail, blurred memory, or inconsistencies in accounts over time.
Victoria Stuart-Cassel et al., Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies, U.S. Dept. of Educ. (2011).
See e.g. Geoff Mulvihill, Parents of Tyler Clementi, Rutgers Student Who Committed Suicide, Decide Not to Sue University, Huffington Post (Oct. 5, 2012), www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/parents-tyler-clemente-sue-lawsuit-rutgers-webcam_n_1943754.html; MSNBC,Parents of ‘Bully’ Teen Appeal Dismissal of Lawsuit Over Son’s Suicide(June 29, 2012),//usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/29/12483803-parents-of-bully-teen-appeal-dismissal-of-lawsuit-over-sons-suicide?lite; Natalie DiBlasio, More Bullying Cases Have Parents Turning to Courts, USA Today (Sept. 11, 2011),//usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-09-11/bullying-lawsuits-parents-self-defense-courts/50363256/1.
U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Bullying Definition,www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/index.html. Some resources add to the base definition an element of intentionality. See U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Off. of Adolescent Health,October 2011: Bullying and Adolescent Health,www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/news/e-updates/eupdate-7.html (intent to cause harm); Brenda Morrison & Roxana Marachi, U.S. Dept. of Educ., Off. of Safe and Drug-Free Schs., Understanding and Responding to School Bullying (Mar. 17, 2011) (webinar; link to presentation slides at//safesupportiveschools.ed.gov/index.php?id=9&eid=16) (intent to cause distress).
U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Bullying Definition, supra n. 3.
See e.g. 24 Pa. Consol. Stat. Ann. §13-1303.1-A (2008).
Ctrs. for Disease Control & Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Sys. (2012).
Natl. Ctr. for Educ. Statistics & Bureau of J. Statistics, School Crime Supp. (2009); see also Natl. Ctr. for Educ. Statistics (NCES), Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results from the 2007 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (May 2011), nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011316.pdf; and Natl. Ctr. for Educ. Statistics, Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results from the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (Aug. 2011), nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011336.pdf.
See U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Young Adults,www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/related-topics/young-adults/index.html.
See U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Effects of Bullying,www.stopbullying.gov/at-risk/effects/index.html.
U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Respond to Bullying,www.stopbullying.gov/respond/index.html.
See Morrison & Marachi, supra n. 3; see also In re William George T., 599 A.2d 886 (Md. Spec. App. 1992) (identifying states with parental responsibility laws).
See Stuart-Cassel et al., supra n. 1.
See U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Stop Bullying on the Spot,www.stopbullying.gov/respond/on-the-spot/index.html, and Report Cyberbullying, www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/how-to-report/index.html.
See e.g. Santoro v. Town of Hamden, 2006 WL 2536595 (Conn. Super. Aug. 18, 2006); L.W. ex rel. L.G. v. Toms River Regl. Schs. Bd. of Educ., 915 A.2d 535 (N.J. 2007); but see N. Syracuse C. Sch. Dist. v. N.Y. St. Div. of Human Rights, 19 N.Y.3d 481 (N.Y. 2012).
Dorie Turner & Greg Bluestein, Victims of Cyberbullying Fight Back in Lawsuits, Business Week (Apr. 27, 2012),www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-04/D9UD9QQ00.htm.
Cf. Doe ex rel. Farley, Piazza & Assoc. v. Gladstone Sch. Dist., 2012 WL 2049173 (D. Or. June 6, 2012) (negligence per se claim for failure to enforce state bullying law); Smith v. Poughkeepsie City Sch. Dist., 41 A.D.3d 579 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dept. 2007) (negligent supervision based on district’s alleged knowledge of perpetrator’s bullying).
See e.g. 42 Pa. Consol. Stat. Ann. §§8542(a), (b) (1980); S.C. Code Ann. §15-78-60(25) (2012); see also Galloway v. Chesapeake Union Exempted Village Schs. Bd. of Educ., 2012 WL 5268946 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 23, 2012); Hancock v. N. Sanpete Sch. Dist., 2012 WL 3060118 (D. Utah July 25, 2012).
See e.g. Moore v. Houston Co. Bd. of Educ., 358 S.W.3d 612 (Tenn. App. 2011).
See U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., Federal Laws,www.stopbullying.gov/laws/federal/index.html; see also U.S. Dept. of Educ., Off. for Civil Rights, Dear Colleague Letter (Oct. 26, 2010),www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-factsheet-201010.pdf; see e.g. Price ex rel. OP v. Scranton Sch. Dist., 2012 WL 37090 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 6, 2012).
See Davis v. Monroe Co. Bd. of Educ., 526 U.S. 629 (1999) (Title IX claim); cf. Smith v. Guilford Bd. of Educ., 226 Fed. Appx. 58 (2d Cir. 2007) (§1983 claim based on Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act right to a free and accessible public education); Magwood v. French, 478 F. Supp. 2d 821 (W.D. Pa. 2007) (§1983 substantive due process claim), Chambers v. N. Rockland C. Sch. Dist., 815 F. Supp. 2d 753 (S.D.N.Y. 2011) (§1983 substantive due process claim).
See 20 U.S.C. §1232(g) (2010); see also Culbert v. City of N.Y., 679 N.Y.S.2d 148 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dept. 1998); U.S. v. Miami U., 294 F.3d 797 (6th Cir. 2002); Rhaney v. U. of Md. E. Shore, 880 A.2d 357 (Md. 2005); Furey v. Wolfe, 2011 WL 597038 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 18, 2011).
See e.g. Alexander v. Herbert, 150 F.R.D. 690 (M.D. Fla. 1993); Cherif v. City of N.Y., 925 N.Y.S.2d 814 (N.Y. Sup. 2011).
See e.g. Doe v. Dept. of Educ., 54 A.D.3d 352 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dept. 2008); Davis v. Carmel Clay Schs., 282 F.R.D. 201 (S.D. Ind. 2012).
See e.g. Alexander, 150 F.R.D. 690.
On the unique prevention and remediation challenges that cyberbullying poses, see e.g. Stacy M. Chaffin, The New Playground Bullies of Cyberspace: Online Peer Sexual Harassment, 51 How. L. J. 773 (Spring 2008); and cf. Finkel v. Dauber, 29 Misc.3d 325 (N.Y. Sup. 2010); Kowalski v. Berkeley Co. Schs., 652 F.3d 565 (W. Va. 2011);but see In re: F.P., 878 A.2d 91 (Pa. Super. 2005).
See Bullied Student, Experts Testify in Third Day of City Schools Bullying Trial, supra n. 29; for an overview of trial challenges, see generally Public School District Liability for Injury or Damage to Student Resulting From Bullying or Other Nonsexual Harassment by Another Student, 111 Am. Jur. Trials 123 (Dec. 2012).

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