53 results for 'cat:"Education" AND cat:"Due Process"'.
J. Higginbotham finds the district court improperly found for a school district in this suit filed by a student alleging it failed to accommodate her hearing impairment. Although the district court held the student did not administratively exhaust her claims under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, mandated administrative proceedings are non-preclusive. Vacated.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginbotham, Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: 22-50854, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process
J. Smith grants an assistant principal and athletic director’s individual motions to dismiss in this due process and equal protection rights lawsuit after a girl was attacked by another student on the school bus. Her parent alleges the child was grabbed and pushed back into a seat, forcing her head into the seat and punched in the face by the assistant principal after child bit him on the arm; the parent also asserts both the assistant principal and athletic director deprived her minor of her rights. The assistant principal says he was protecting himself when bitten by the girl, so the court dismisses the excessive corporal punishment claim. The parent failed to state a procedural due process rights violation claim.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Smith, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv360, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: education, Negligence, due Process
J. Hollander partially grants a motion to dismiss filed by the education board in this civil rights lawsuit brought by the parents of a student who was suspended on a determination that she engaged in racist conduct after she allegedly sent a “blackface” photo via Snapchat. The student’s invasion of privacy, defamation, and freedom from search and seizure claims will be dismissed. However, her negligence, fiduciary duty, free speech and First Amendment claims are denied on a theory of procedural due process violation.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Hollander, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv195, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process
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J. Komitee dismisses a New York City school teacher’s due process and equitable relief complaint alleging the city’s education department placed her on unpaid leave and ultimately terminated her employment after she refused to get a Covid-19 vaccination. The court finds her due process rights were not violated because there were several available options she could have pursued both prior to and after she was fired to contest the department’s decisions. The court also finds that her substantive due process claim alleging the department violated her right to refuse unwanted and medically unnecessary medical care also fails, as the Supreme Court has not recognized such a right under the U.S. Constitution.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Komitee, Filed On: September 22, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv6833, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: education, due Process, Covid-19
J. Kelly finds a lower court properly ruled in favor of a university on a former student's sex discrimination claims after he was accused of sexual misconduct two times. The former student argued that the university violated due process. However, the university is protected by qualified immunity. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 21-3340, Categories: education, Immunity, due Process
J. Golemon finds the trial court properly dismissed with prejudice the mother's suit against the school district alleging that it violated district policy by issuing her daughter's diploma without a magna cum laude distinction. The mother argues that the district violated her daughter's due process rights but fails to allege a due process claim. The daughter also has no constitutional right to the academic distinction. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Golemon , Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 09-21-00102-CV, Categories: Constitution, education, due Process
J. Cullen dismisses the former student's Title IX violation claim. The student was accused of sexual assault, and the university found him guilty and suspended him for two years. Even if the student's allegations were sufficient to permit an inference that the university acted in a biased manner against him, he does not allege facts that suggest that any bias was attributable to his gender rather than other non-protected factors.
Court: USDC Western District of Virginia, Judge: Cullen, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 7:22cv28, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: education, Negligence, due Process
J. Stewart finds the district court improperly denied qualified immunity for the Louisiana State University professor after the student and undergrad teacher alleged violations of due process by the staff’s conspiring to prevent his enrollment in the theatre program. The student received a failing grade on a written assignment wherein he criticized and allegedly threatened staff and students who disagreed with his conservative opinions on sexuality. Because of this, other professors refused to accept him into their classes. The professors lacked adequate notice that their conduct was violative of the student’s constitutional rights. Without this notice they are entitled to qualified immunity Reversed and dismissed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Stewart, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: 22-30588, Categories: Constitution, education, due Process
J. Pappert finds an administrative hearing officer properly determined that a school district offered appropriate education options to a disabled student, though the parents did not agree. As a result of the parents finding the district’s proposed plan unacceptable, they enrolled the student in a private school and seek tuition reimbursement. The administrative hearing officer deemed the plan appropriate and denied reimbursement; the instant court agrees. Affirmed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Pappert, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv4080, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, education, due Process
J. Donovan reverses summary judgment against a former student who sued the high school she attended as a minor, where she was sexually assaulted by a teacher. While her complaint fell outside the statute of limitations, she had only learned recently that the school had hired the teacher who assaulted her while fully aware that the teacher had been convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor female student in Maine. Reversed and remanded.
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court, Judge: Donovan, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 2022-0259, Categories: education, due Process, Assault
J. Pryor finds that the lower court properly dismissed a fraternity brother's lawsuit against the university for suspending him for two semesters because he hosted a party during the Covid-19 pandemic. The fraternity brother failed to sufficiently plead the university violated a specific contractual right, because he has no constitutionally protected properly interest in remaining enrolled at the university. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Pryor, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: 22-2469, Categories: education, due Process, Contract
J. Newman grants the school district's motion for judgment on the pleadings, ruling that the students' and parents' Title IX claims do not include a plausible injury-in-fact because the students' "aversion to encountering a transgender student in the bathroom" does not involve sex discrimination of any kind, much less the kind included under Title IX. Meanwhile, the parents' due process claim fails as a matter of law because the district's decision to allow students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity does not implicate their right to send their children to a specific school, while parents are not afforded the right to determine a school's curriculum or the operation of its facilities.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Newman, Filed On: August 7, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv337, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process
J. Groban finds that the appeals court erred in requiring that private universities allow students accused of intimate partner violence the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses and accusers. Private organizations must use fair procedures that include a notice of charges and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. But they have the responsibility to devise their own methods without the courts imposing fixed procedures that must be followed in every situation, and live hearings with cross-examination are not required. Reversed.
Court: California Supreme Court, Judge: Groban, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: S263180, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process
J. Chambers grants the pre-med student’s motion for leave to file an amended and supplemental complaint for civil rights violations for the Title IX coordinator’s faulty investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against him, but precludes him from asserting a violation of due process claim since the university decided to scrap the coordinator’s investigation, terminated her employment and selected a new investigator to perform a completely new investigation and issue a final report.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Chambers, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv346, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process
J. Higginbotham finds the district court improperly dismissed this suit arising from alleged violations of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. A school employee assigned to accommodate the party’s minor son’s disabilities allegedly verbally harassed him and threw a trash can at him, causing injury. Certain claims were filed out of court, but the mother still had the right to file a separate action, though the court dismissed it for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. This suit was then filed and dismissed on grounds of issue preclusion. The Supreme Court recently concluded in a similar case that IDEA claims do not require administrative exhaustion “where a plaintiff brings a suit under another federal law for compensatory damages.” Vacated and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginbotham, Filed On: June 22, 2023, Case #: 22-50295, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process
J. Rushing finds the lower court properly dismissed the professor's First Amendment claims. The university disciplined the psychology professor after allegedly creating a hostile environment that led to four female students reporting him for sexual harassment after he told them explicit stories about his personal sexual experiences, made explicit remarks, and asked intimate questions about their sex lives. His sanctioned speech primarily involved casual, interpersonal interactions with students about private sexual matters that the professor does not plausibly connect to a larger public discourse or matter of public concern. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Rushing, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 20-1509, Categories: education, due Process, First Amendment
J. Peterson finds for the police officer in a lawsuit from a middle school art teacher who was fired from her job after the officer recommended she be prosecuted for first-degree sexual assault of a child based on a student's allegation that the teacher touched her buttocks inappropriately during class, which the teacher and other students claim was fabricated because she took away the student's cell phone. The teacher's federal due process and malicious prosecution claims fail, as there were no violations of her property or liberty interests because the officer did not have any control over her getting fired from her job and, in part because the prosecution his investigation led to was ultimately dropped, he did not contribute to altering her legal status, even if her reputation was harmed. The teacher's state-law malicious prosecution claim is also dismissed, as she did not file a notice of claim complying with statutes.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: June 9, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv47, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process
J. Mathis finds the lower court properly granted the school's motion for summary judgment on free speech claims filed by the student who created a fake Instagram account of one of his teachers. Although administrators cannot control out-of-school speech to the same degree as in-school speech, the severe harassment of the teacher on the account, including vulgar and sexually explicit posts, fell within the administrators' purview. Meanwhile, the school handbook rule that prohibits gross misbehavior was properly applied by administrators and is not unconstitutionally vague because the terms are easily defined, and would be understood by students and their parents. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Mathis, Filed On: June 2, 2023, Case #: 22-1748, Categories: education, due Process, First Amendment
J. Higginson finds the lower court improperly dismissed a mother’s Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act claims brought against the school district. The district court says the mother lacked standing to bring the claims on her own behalf and — who is not a licensed attorney — could not proceed pro se on behalf of her children. An absolute bar on pro se parent representation is inconsistent with the relevant federal law, which allows a pro se parent to proceed on behalf of her child in federal court when the child’s case is the parent’s “own.” Vacated and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginson, Filed On: June 2, 2023, Case #: 21-11180, Categories: Civil Rights, education, due Process