In ag tragic story coming out of Florida, parents of an 11th grader boy have sued their son's school district for the personal injuries he suffered while trying to intervene and break up a bullying incident.

 

The background story is interesting: apparently, a group of six boys were bullying another student on the school bus ride home, and the bus driver's reaction was to tell the boys to "take the fight off his bus," which they in fact did, as the bullying students disembarked the bus before their bus stop in order to continue bullying this other student at his desigated stop.

 

When the plaintiff tried to intervene and break up the fight, the bullying students turned on him, and injured the plaintiff in the process.

 

In terms of how this fact scenario would play out in New York, several things must be borne in mind that make this case somewhat distinct from New York:

 

(1) In this Florida incident, it appears that the school district owned the bus in question, and the driver was a school district employee; that is often not the case in New York.

(2) This case against the school district is apparently being brought roughly two (2) years post-incident, which would be untimely under New York law; and,

(3) The reports of the case indicate that the case is, in large part, predicated on the school district's failure to abide by its own internal rules and regulations. Under New York law, that will often not provide a basis for a personal injury claim.

Jonathan Cooper
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Non-Compete, Trade Secret and School Negligence Lawyer
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