In Hartzell v. Marana Unified School Dist., published March 5, 2025, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgment in favor of the defendant school district and its principal. The plaintiff was a parent who had multiple children enrolled in the school overseen by the defendant principal. The plaintiff…
In K.J. v. Jackson, published February 11, 2025, the 9th Circuit reversed summary judgment for the individual defendants in a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 case. The students involved in a lunchtime fight on a high school campus were suspended for fighting on campus. The plaintiff was included. Before he and the other students were suspended, they…
In I.C. v. Compton Unified School Dist., ordered published February 6, 2025, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 8 affirmed a judgment entered after jury trial. The 16-year-old plaintiff and his friend started a fist fight during an art class. Their teacher intervened. The teacher weighed 375 pounds, and had recently been using a…
In Wiley v. Kern High School District, ordered partially published on December 20, 2024, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed a demurrer to a claim under Civil Code section 52.1, the Bane Act. The plaintiff alleged that she engaged in a verbal altercation with various students, staff members, and a school district police officer when…
In A.H. v. Tamalpais Union High School Dist., published September 9, 2024, the First District Court of Appeal, Division 2 affirmed a judgment against the district entered after jury trial. The plaintiff was molested by his school tennis coach. Before the molestation occurred, the school principal received a report that the coach had touched a student's…
In Grizzell v. San Elijo Elementary School, published August 7, 2024, the 9th Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal without prejudice of a civil rights case against the defendant school and school district. The plaintiff enrolled her children in the school under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. She alleges that the children suffered racial discrimination and…
In Health Freedom defense Fund, Inc. v. Carvalho, published June 7, 2024, a divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court order granting judgment on the pleadings. The plaintiffs challenged the defendant California school district's mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The district reversed course on the policy multiple times. The district court…
In San Diego Unified School District v. Superior Court (John Doe D.Y.), published May 28, 2024, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 1 issued a writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate its order denying the real party district's Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 to the trial court judge. Code of Civil…
In Campbell v. Los Angeles Unified School Dist., ordered published May 22, 2024, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision denying a petition for a writ of administrative mandate challenging her dismissal. (A decision in another lawsuit between the parties was published May 21, 2024.) The plaintiff worked as a resource specialist…
In Brinsmead v. Elk Grove Unified School District, published September 18, 2023, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed an order of dismissal entered after the trial court sustained the defendant district's demurrer. According to the complaint, the plaintiffs' daughter was enrolled in the district's school bus program. One morning, the daughter was present at the…