Confidential
Settlement – $3,474,000Court
Sacramento Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
James T. Anwyl
(Anwyl & Stepp LLP)
Experts
Plaintiff
Lawrence J. Deneen J.D.
(technical)
Tracy A. Newkirk
(medical)
Linda Evans Shaw
(technical)
Albert R. Gutowsky
(technical)
Defendant
James Y. Soong
(medical)
Facts
At the time of the incident, there was a semester substitute teacher with little experience with the subject matter (Spanish class) or high school teaching at the defendant school district. The students had petitioned for the teacher's removal. The plaintiff alleged that the teacher allowed a loose educational environment in the classroom, allowing students to participate in recreation and game playing. On March 4, 1993, the plaintiff was pitching quarters with a classmate in the back of the class. The defendant student, a 15-year-old high school student, picked up the plaintiff's quarter and refused to return it resulting in approximately 15 minutes of arguing and chasing around the classroom. The teacher did not intervene in the dispute. Moments after the plaintiff retrieved the quarter, the plaintiff allegedly made some obscene remarks to a classmate about the defendant student. The defendant student struck the plaintiff on the head with a stool. The plaintiff brought this action against the defendant student under assault and battery theories of recovery and the defendant school district under negligent supervision theories of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The settlement discussions were not disclosed.
Specials in Evidence
$81,000 $_______________________ $____________________
Injuries
Head trauma; impaired cognitive functioning requiring an emergency cranitomy and hospitalization; internal scar tissue and decreased blood flow into the frontal cranial lobe region requiring therapy.
Other Information
The case was settled approximately one year and five months after the case was filed.
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