Two recent settlements between school districts and students highlight society's general intolerance for bullying within schools. As reported in our earlier blog, New Jersey recognizes a cause of action against a school board when that school board fails to prevent, or attempt to prevent, the bullying of one student by others. We indicated in our earlier blog that the basis for such lawsuits in New Jersey is New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination (LAD). The linking of a "bullying" cause of action to New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination allows for a successful claimant to obtain punitive damages and counsel fees, in addition to compensatory damages.
Lenape Valley Regional High School District in Stanhope, New Jersey recently agreed to a settlement of $275,000.00 to a former high school student who is black, alleged that administrators did not properly handle repeated racial harassment by white students against him. In another case involving bullying and harassment, the United States Department of Education reached a voluntary agreement with the Hawaii Public School System over a bullying complaint filed by the parents of a high school student who was repeatedly bullied by other students. The alleged bullying adversely affected her school attendance and grades. While it is not certain to us at this point in time whether the State of Hawaii actually recognizes a cause of action as does New jersey, the high school student's parents filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education alleging that their daughter was being discriminated against. The settlement between the United States Department of Education and Hawaii Public Schools requires various administrators and teachers to undergo sensitivity and harassment training in order to more easily recognize the existence of same.
Given current social trends in technology, including Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites, it would appear that such bullying and harassment cases will increase in number, and may even reach beyond the doors of the school. In this regard, we await the filing of unique causes of action not based upon school harassment but harassment through the other social media. An attorney well versed in ongoing developments in negligence law can determine how to best pursue any similar situated case, so do not hesitate to consult a lawyer as soon as possible if you find yourself or a loved one dealing with bullying.
