Opinion ID: 1969579
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Other Jurisdictions Educational Malpractice Claims

Text: Courts in at least ten states and the District of Columbia have considered and declined to hold that a claim for educational malpractice is a cognizable common-law cause of action. [7] Most of those educational malpractice claims involved direct causes of action brought by a student against an educational institution. One case, however, did address a third-party educational malpractice claim. Moore v. Vanderloo, Iowa Supr., 386 N.W.2d 108 (1986). In Moore, the plaintiff sued both her chiropractor and the educational institution he had attended, claiming the institution negligently failed to properly educate its student. [8] Id. at 111. The Iowa Supreme Court held, in Moore, that a third-party educational malpractice claim is not a valid cause of action at common law in Iowa. In doing so, it noted that, with one exception, the courts that have addressed the issue have refused to recognize a direct common-law cause of action for educational malpractice. Id. at 114. Although the Iowa Supreme Court acknowledged that the direct cause of action cases arose in different factual contexts, it concluded that the public policy considerations were the same. [9] Id. The Iowa Supreme Court noted that the issue of competency is closely related to the licensing scheme for chiropractors provided by the legislature. Id. at 115. The Iowa Supreme Court concluded that it should not interfere with legislatively defined standards of competency. Id. Accordingly, the Iowa Supreme Court declined to recognize a common-law cause of action by a third party for educational malpractice against the allegedly negligent chiropractor's alma mater.