Running head: TORT AND LIABILITY

Tort and Liability Artifact #5

Melissa Avila
Professor Sherry Herington

TORT AND LIABILITY

School Districts are responsible for only so much during the school day. Finding
themselves negligent or not is based on actions made within any situation. Ray Knight, a middle
school student was suspended due to unexcused absences. The students parents were unaware of
his suspension. Meanwhile, visiting a friend on his first day of suspension, he is accidentally
shot.
The court case Sanford v. Stiles is about the suicide of sixteen-year-old boy, Michael
Sanford. Michaels mom files suit against Pamela Stiles, the school counselor, considering her
negligent. There exist two types of negligence: contributory negligence and comparative
negligence. Contributory negligence is used to describe the actions of an injured individual who
may have also contributed or caused his/her own injury. Comparative negligence is a rule for
allocating damages when both parties are at least somewhat at fault.
Carr v. School Board of Pasco County is about a high school student who suffered severe
knee injuries. Michael Carr, the student, claims the School Board of Pasco County was negligent.
The type of negligence for this case would be comparative negligence. Both the student and the
school are somewhat at fault. This case supports Rays case because it is a situation where both
the student and school are involved and affected.
The court case Collette v. Tolleson Unified School District involves a student and friends
driving to school after a lunch break. Students after a certain grade level were allowed to leave
school only with parents consent and a lunch pass. The students left school without a pass and
did not make it back due to a car crash. This case supports does not support Rays case since both
actions taken were immoral. Although, tort liability, which is action requiring some form of
remedy from a court system, could be applicable.

TORT AND LIABILITY

Goss v. Lopez is about nine students from Ohio given a ten-day suspension. The principal
did not hold hearings before the suspensions. The Federal Court found that the students rights
had been violated. I believe this case does not support Rays case because unlike in Rays case,
these students were not notified of future suspension or such actions.
Rays parents have defensible grounds to pursue liability charges against school officials.
Schools should notify the parents of students actions and punishments in multiple ways. Aside
from sending a written notice, like in Rays case, schools should send emails and make phone
calls to parents. I believe that in this case, the school from which Ray was suspended could be
considered negligent, since they did not act accordingly.

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References
Carr v. School Board of Pasco County. (2006, March 3). In FindLaw. Retrieved April 22, 2014,
from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/fl-district-court-of-appeal/1143031.html
Contributory Negligence. (n.d.). In Laws. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from
http://negligence.laws.com/contributory-negligence
IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. (1975). Goss v. Lopez. In The OYEZ Project. Retrieved April
22, 2014, from http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1974/1974_73_898
Legal Information Law School. (n.d.). Comparative Negligence. In Cornell University Law
School. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex.comparative_negligence
Thomson Reuters. (n.d.). Collette v. Tolleson Unified School District No. 214. In FindLaw.
Retrieved April 22, 2014, from
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-court-of-appeals/1291266.html
Thomson Reuters. (n.d.). Sanford v. Stiles. In FindLaw. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-3rd-circuit/1380734.html
WebFinance, Inc. . (n.d.). Tort liability. In BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved April 22, 2014,
from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/tort-liability.html