Court Rejects Student's Privacy Claim After Alleged Threats
by
Joseph C. Maya on Apr. 05, 2017
Other Education Civil & Human Rights Constitutional Law Accident & Injury Personal Injury
Summary: Article about a case where a student filed claims of personal injury and constitutional violations for not getting a hearing following a suspension for threats made against other students.
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In the federal case of Risica ex rel. Risica v. Dumas, a former middle school student filed suit against her high school principle for alleged violation of federal and constitutional law. The student also brought state law tort claims of invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Before the court, the principal moved for summary judgment, a preemptive decision by the court in favor of one party over another based on the absence of a genuine issue of material fact
The student claimed that he was denied procedural due process when he was suspended for ten days for making a hit list. He argued his substantive due process rights were violated when the school allegedly failed to intervene to prevent bullying, harassment, and name-calling from other students; and his right to privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment was infringed when the principal allegedly disclosed the hit list and the fact of the student's suspension to a female student named in the hit list and to the principal's administrative staff. The student received all the process that was due him. The school was under no constitutional duty to prevent the student-on-student harassment and the affirmative step taken by the principal towards stopping the harassment was not, as a matter of law, so egregious, so outrageous that it could fairly be said to shock the contemporary conscience. The student had no expectation of privacy in the existence of the hit list and there was no evidence of disclosure of any potentially private information to the female student. The principal's act of informing her support staff about the suspension was substantially related to the important governmental objectives.
The principal's motion for summary judgment was granted in all respects by the magistrate. The federal claims were dismissed with prejudice. The state law claims were dismissed without prejudice.
If you have a child with a disability and have questions about special education law, please contact Joseph C. Maya, Esq., at 203-221-3100, or at JMaya@mayalaw.com, to schedule a free consultation.
Source: Risica ex rel. Risica v. Dumas, 466 F. Supp. 2d 434, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84116 (D. Conn. 2006)