Parents of a high school student, that committed suicide two years ago, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a school district for it’s failure to protect their son in what has been described as years of bullying and hazing, with the final blow being a false sexual assault allegation, as reported by The Associated Press for the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Utah couple, B.H. and E.H., filed their federal lawsuit on January 17 naming the North Sanpete School District. They are seeking unspecified damages. Representing them in the suit is attorney Sonny Olson.
The couple’s son, Jacob, was 18 and in his senior year at North Sanpete High School when he took his own life on January 21, 2010.
Jacob, referred to as J.H. in the lawsuit, was the subject of abuse for over five years while he attended high school and earlier, at the North Sanpete Middle School. Abuse was both physical and emotional, and at the hands of students, police and school district employees.
The district is named in the suit for their failure to respond in a way that would have served to protect Jacob while at school. Olsen contended that school polices – against bullying, hazing and suicide prevention – existed but failed to be implemented.
Olsen commented, “It's not like Jacob was a kid that nobody knew about. It we can't save a kid in that setting, then either our policies are wrong or the people that are executing them are not the right people.”
Along with the school district, also named in the suit are: the school board, the Sanpete County sheriff’s office, the principals that served in Jacob’s middle and high schools, school employees and two police officers.
Victoria Schoenfeld, the spokeswoman for the Division of Risk Management for the district said, “We have received the complaint and we understand a suit has been filed, but we're in a phase right now where we are still gathering information.”
Brody Keisel, the attorney for Sanpete County said that the sheriff’s office will defend itself against the claims made in the lawsuit.
A section of the lawsuit reads: “As reported by other students and peers, the harassing conduct was so prevalent and obvious that the responsible adults must have known, and indeed, witnesses it. J.H.'s actions in taking his own life were a foreseeable result of the defendant's tortuous acts.”
The start of the bullying began as early as the eighth grade, at which time three fellow students taunted Jacob with gay slurs. No reason of why Jacob may have been singled out as a target was suggested in the lawsuit.
Harassments allegedly continued without any interventions by the district, while Jacob suffered with growing anxiety and faltering grades. After lashing out at others, he suffered a mental breakdown and was put on suicide watch.
The suit states that a football coach publicly said Jacob looked like a pedophile, he was hit by a police officer and finally, accused of sexually abusing a teenaged girl.
Though the girl later changed her story from one of sexual assault to being “tickled”, Jacob committed suicide shortly thereafter.
Contact a personal injury lawyer if you have lost someone in a wrongful death. Monetary awards are routinely made to cover items from your funeral expenses to the loss of future earnings.