MONTICELLO – A Sullivan County Supreme Court jury has found the Monticello Central School District liable for failing to adequately protect a student from repeated assaults by other students, according to the student’s attorneys.
The verdict was returned Sept. 17 following a trial before Judge Stephan Schick in Sullivan County Supreme Court.
The lawsuit involved allegations of repeated assaults and bullying involving the student while she attended a school in the district. The lawsuit alleged that the district had been aware of prior conduct, threats, and incidents involving the student but failed to take reasonable measures to protect her from foreseeable harm.
After hearing the evidence, the jury found the district liable.
“This case was about our client’s right to be free from harm as a high school student,” said Julie Iacobucci, an attorney for the student and her family. “When a school district knows that a student is at risk of being harmed, it has a responsibility to protect that student.”
Iacobucci and attorney Bill Thonus represented the student and her family at trial for Rutberg Breslow Personal Injury Law. The district has not yet been reported as having responded publicly to the verdict.
The amount of damages, if any, remains to be determined, and the litigation is ongoing.
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