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Court: Lawsuits no go under bully law

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This September the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that students cannot sue schools for failing to notify parents about alleged bullying incidents.

The case came about after a Manchester student was admitted to the emergency room following an attack in the school cafeteria. Ten days earlier the student had been punched on the school bus, although the Principal had not notified the student’s parents about that incident.

New Hampshire’s bully law requires schools to adopt a policy that includes notifying parents about bullying incidents.

However, the bully law also states that no one can sue a school employee for “conduct in good faith” related to the bully law. The law also says that no one can sue the state to enforce the law.

B.J. Branch, the attorney that tried to sue the Manchester School District on behalf of the injured student, told NHPR that New Hampshire’s bully law should be revised to hold schools more accountable for bullying. “A lot of people got that statute passed and worked hard to get it passed and perhaps they will be re-energized now that it is on the books, fine tune it so that it has a little more enforcement power to it,” Branch said.

On the other hand, the state Supreme Court noted in its ruling that schools cannot be held accountable for students “in all instances and against all harms.”

The immunity from lawsuits was not the focus of debate when New Hampshire’s bully law was updated in 2010. Instead, much of the debate focused on the definition of bullying and the cost of mandated training for employees.

If the legislature revises the bullying law to allow lawsuits, schools might face many expensive suits from parents and students.

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