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A California court of appeals has agreed to a former middle school student who sued El Segundo Unified School District six years ago for failing to protect her from verbal and cyberbullying.
When losing the appeal, El Segundo Unification must pay Eleri Irons, a $1 million ruling awarded in 2022 in her 20s.
It was harmed by the 13-year-old Irons, who began a nearly-year-old bullying campaign in the fall of 2017, when a ju judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court discovered negligence in the district, including overseeing and training employees.
“This ruling confirms what the Ju judge already knew,” Irons attorney Christa Lamey said in a statement. “Eleri has failed on all levels by the very people who were supposed to protect her.”
Calls to lawyers representing the district were not returned.
The Irons sued the school district in 2019, and while attending El Segundo Middle School from November 2017 to June 2018, she said she was “bullying, tormented and verbally assaulted” by three students, including two previous best friends.
The bullying began after Irons asked a friend if he could go on a date with his ex-boyfriend.
One student bullied iron on social media shortly afterwards, according to court documents. The girl called the iron “con”, “woman” and other social media slander. On campus, she screamed at her and made indecent gestures. The students even slapped the iron at once, the document says.
Irons reached out to the school counselor, but the bullying got worse. One day, the counselor replied, “A girl will be a girl,” after Irons shared a series of threatening texts, according to court documents.
The Irons family ultimately reached out to the principal and teacher, but the bullying didn’t stop, the documents say. The harassment student eventually created a petition entitled “The Life of End Eleni Irons,” which spread throughout campus.
The school’s principal warned police, but court documents said neither Iron nor his parents were aware of the petitions by school officials.
The petition writer and another student were suspended due to the law.
The Irons psychologist ultimately diagnosed her with PTSD and a depressed mood disorder.
Before the end of the year, Iron applied to transfer from the district to a private high school.
She then sued the school district in 2019, earning $700,000 in non-economic damages in 2022 and $300,000 in future non-economic damages.
The district appealed the decision. The argument included the argument that the courts erred in allowing various provisions of the Education Act to uphold an iron’s negligence claim. The district was responsible for decisions made by junior high school employees. And the irons could not prove that the injury was caused by the employee’s negligence.
The El Segundo district argued that while the school could punish students for engaging in harmful or destructive behavior, certain provisions of the Education Act have addressed the schools by “not impose any mandatory obligations” to protect students from the actions of other students.
The Court of Appeal responded that the district’s initial argument was “misplaced” and “less worth” and that El Segundo was obligated to protect the irons.
Regarding immunity, the district argued that decisions on how middle school employees respond to Iron bullying complaints were “discretionary” under California government law and could not put the district liability.
The Court of Appeal also shot down the argument, saying Irons presented clear evidence that school employees, including the principal and counselor, did not follow basic bullying procedures and guidelines.
“Instead of taking accountability and helping this young woman recover, the district has chosen to fight taxpayer money in court for years,” Attorney Lammy said. “It’s not leadership. It’s coronavirus.”
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