 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Thompson v. Sacramento City Unified School Dist.3/25/2003
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
Christopher J. Thompson (plaintiff), a minor, was injured during an argument in school when he was punched by another student. The injury occurred the day after it appeared that the assailant had threatened to hit another student and was suspected of having set fire to a poster on a school bulletin board.
Plaintiff and his parents appeal from the judgment entered in favor of the Sacramento City Unified School District (defendant) after the trial court granted defendant's summary judgment motion in this personal injury action. Appellants contend that they have demonstrated a triable issue of material fact regarding defendant's liability for negligence due to its failure to suspend the assailant from school before plaintiff was injured and its failure to exercise reasonable care in supervising students in its charge. Appellants also argue that the court erred in excluding declarations of their experts. We shall affirm the judgment.
As we will explain, defendant did not owe a duty to plaintiff to suspend the assailant on the day before he injured plaintiff and, in any event, on the facts of this case, a properly instructed jury could not find that defendant acted unreasonably in failing to do so before completing an investigation of the allegations. As to defendant's alleged breach of its general duty to supervise students in its charge, appellants failed to present competent evidence to show the alleged negligence was the proximate cause of plaintiff's injury. The expert witness declarations in this regard were properly excluded because they were speculative and conjectural.
FACTS
Plaintiff, a high school student, was injured on January 22, 1999, during the lunch period at defendant's Kennedy High School.
Immediately before lunch, plaintiff and another student, Demario C., were in a physical education class. Someone told Demario that plaintiff was selling marijuana and was carrying a substantial amount of it. Demario related this information to his friend, Demarcus M., during lunch.
Demarcus and Demario quickly formed a plan to rob plaintiff of the marijuana they believed he was carrying. They decided that Demarcus would wait in the bathroom while Demario lured plaintiff inside with the prospect of a marijuana sale. In accordance with the plan, Demario approached plaintiff and whispered that he knew someone in the bathroom who wanted to buy some sacks (meaning marijuana). Plaintiff then followed Demario to the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, Demarcus told plaintiff to "come out of your pockets," indicating he was being robbed. When plaintiff refused to hand over anything, a scuffle ensued. Plaintiff broke free and left the bathroom. However, a few feet outside of the bathroom, he stopped and turned to confront Demarcus. A fight ensued, and Demarcus hit plaintiff three or four times in the face, causing him to fall backwards and strike his head on the ground. Plaintiff suffered significant injury for which he seeks compensation from defendant.
Much of the evidence submitted on the summary judgment motion concerned Demarcus. It appears that he had a number of suspensions in primary school and middle school, some of which were related to fighting. In 1996, he was expelled from Sam Brannan Middle School for an assault on a student and apparently on the campus monitor who broke up
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 California Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|