Artifact

#3 Tort and Liability 1

Tort and Liability

Emily Kesler

College of Southern Nevada

EDU 210

2/13/2017

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A middle school student named Ray Knight had three unexcused absences which caused

him to get suspended. The school district requires rapid notification to the parents of students

by telephone or mailed notices when a child gets suspended. The school, however, only sent

the student home with a note to his parents regarding his suspension, and he threw it away.

Thus, his parents had no idea of his suspension. Ray Knight was accidentally shot while visiting a

friend’s house on the first day of his suspension.

Ray’s parents most definitely have defensible grounds to pursue liability charges against

the school officials. School officials acted in a tort meaning that they acted in a violation of

duty, that causes harm. This accident was caused by negligence. In the case Tackett v. Pine

Richland School District (2002), Sean Tackett was enrolled in Ms. Vrable’s advanced chemistry

class. Sean got severe burns in the class when two other students ignited ethyl alcohol.

Although the classroom was equipped with the right equipment, Ms. Vrable did not inform the

students on how to use the equipment. The court found alleged acts of negligence related to

the teacher, Ms. Vrable’s, failure to properly supervise the students of the classroom activity.

In the case Di Cosala v. kay (1982), the plaintiff, six year old Dennis Di Cosala was

accidentally shot in the neck by Robert M Kay. The accident happened in the living quarters of

Dennis’s uncle, Philip Reuille on the grounds of Boy Scout camp Mohican. Reuille was hired at

the camp to do maintenance and general work with compensation to the provision of

accommodations of the camp grounds. Kay went to the Reuilles’ home by invitation and was

playing around with a .22 automatic pistol that he and the young boy found. Kay played that if

the young boy did not behave, that he would shoot him. He assumed the gun wasn’t loaded,

however it was and the boy was struck in the neck by Kay’s shot. The judge concluded that the
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defendants owed a duty to Dennis Di Cosala to exercise reasonable care in the hiring and

retention of their employees.

In the case, Collette v. Tolleson Unified School District (2002, Sept. & Oct.), a motorist

wants to sue the school for allowing a student to leave school for lunch knowing that the time

allotted for lunch is slim and thus the students would have to rush back and forth to class. This

motorist was involved in a multicar accident caused by a student who was on lunch. The Judge

found in favor of the school because the evidence fails to establish a breach of duty.

Thomason’s sneaking off campus did not suscept him to any more harm than if he had been

allowed to leave campus because of the already ordinary risk of vehicular harm.

In the case, Thomas v. City of Lights School (2000), a student gets beat up by five other

students. He suffered a concussion and injuries to multiple areas of the body. He filed a lawsuit

accusing the City of Lights School of negligent supervision. The court found in favor of the

school that the need to determine whether the harm was foreseeable, to determine whether a

duty exists, the court could not find that. Not duty existed.

My decision rules in favor of Ryan Knight. The four elements that must be proven for

negligence to be the cause are a duty, a breach of duty, a causation, and injury. In Ray’s case, all

four of these elements were involved. The school officials had a duty to notify the parents by

telephone or fast mail which they failed to do, thus they had a breach of duty. There was a

causation because there was a causal connection between the negligent conduct and the

resulting injury. If Ray’s parents had been notified of Ray’s suspension, he likely would not have

gone to his friends’ house, where he was shot, the injury.

Works Cited
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Di Cosala v. Kay. (1982). Retrieved February 14, 2017, from http://law.justia.com/cases/new-

jersey/supreme-court/1982/91-n-j-159-0.html

FindLaw's Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania case and opinions. (2002). Retrieved February

13, 2017, from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/pa-commonwealth-court/1488410.html

FindLaw's Court of Appeals of Arizona case and opinions. (2002, Sept. & oct.). Retrieved

February 13, 2017, from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-court-of-appeals/1291266.html

Thomas v. City Lights School, Inc., 124 F. Supp. 2d 707 (D.D.C. 2000). (2000). Retrieved February

13, 2017, from http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-

courts/FSupp2/124/707/2569586/