California Bullying Victims’ Attorneys

California Bullying Victim Representation

California's elementary and secondary schools, from kindergarten through grade twelve, owe students and their parents or guardians the legal duty to prevent bullying. Bullying victims have legal rights. Those rights may include (1) administrative relief within the school or district, (2) invoking state and federal regulators to investigate and punish the school, and (3) suing the school in civil court for monetary damages and injunctive relief to prevent certain forms of bullying. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team if your California K-12 student is a bullying victim needing legal relief. Bullying is a serious matter. Let us help you fight for your student's rights in California. Call us at (888)535-3686, or reach out to us online.

The Problem of Bullying in California K-12 Schools

Bullying is a serious problem recognized nationally and in California's kindergarten through grade twelve schools. Whether you call it bullying, hazing, teasing, or harassing, conduct in school that demeans, threatens, and harms your student can affect not only your student's learning but also your student's mental and emotional health and development. You are right to be concerned and to take action. California's legislature strengthened the state's anti-bullying laws after reports of student suicides and other terrible bullying harms. Get our help before your student suffers serious harm.

California Anti-Bullying Laws

California law certainly prohibits elementary and secondary school bullying while requiring schools and school districts to adopt and enforce anti-bullying policies. California Education Code Section 234 declares the state's policy to combat bullying. Section 234.1 requires local school districts to adopt anti-bullying policies. The district's anti-bullying policy must provide for prompt investigation of bullying complaints. Section 234.1 also requires that “if school personnel witness an act of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying, they shall take immediate steps to intervene when safe to do so.” California's anti-bullying laws have other provisions requiring posting and publicizing of anti-bullying complaint procedures, including timelines for investigation and resolution.

California's Bullying Definition

California Education Code Section 48900 defines bullying to mean “any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means of an electronic act,” “that has or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of” either placing a reasonable student in fear of harm to person or property, experience a substantially detrimental effect on physical or mental health, or experience substantial interference with academics or the ability to benefit from school services, activities, or privileges. Acts that could constitute bullying under California's statutory definition and other laws include:

in-person teasing, taunting, harassing, threatening, coercing, and other words, actions, and acts communicating the intent to harm;
using a computer, cellphone, or other electronic communication device to taunt, tease, harass, threaten, or oppress;
striking, hitting, kicking, shoving, pinching, slapping, poking, and other physical contact intended to annoy and oppress;
spreading rumors, gossiping, encouraging social exclusion, or ostracizing in other ways;
intimidating, extorting, coercing, or otherwise using threatening or harassing actions to require your student to act or not act;
hazing in the nature of requiring your student to submit to hazing, embarrassment, endangerment, or discomfort to join a club or group or
any of the above forms of harassment based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or other protected categories and characteristics.

California Liability Laws Protecting Bullying Victims

California's anti-bullying laws do not expressly provide for civil liability of school officials for failing to fulfill their anti-bullying obligations. Nor do those anti-bullying laws provide for the immunity of school officials. Instead, bullying victims must rely on California's statutory law for government liability and the traditional tort law (personal injury law) that underlies government liability. Together, those laws can provide a money damage recovery for bullying victims in certain cases. State governments generally claim sovereign immunity, meaning you can only sue state agencies if state law permits you to do so. Fortunately, California law does permit bullying claims in certain cases. Let our attorneys investigate, evaluate, and pursue your student's liability claim for California school bullying harm.

California Governmental Liability Laws Protecting Bullying Victims

Many states limit the right of individuals to sue state government agencies, including public schools. California, though, is among the states that have broader rather than narrower government liability laws. The California Tort Claims Act, California Government Code Section 910 et seq., authorizes money damage recoveries against California government agencies, including public schools, when your claim meets its strict conditions. Section 945 states plainly that California government agencies “may sue and be sued.” Section 945.2 applies the usual rules for civil court actions to actions against public schools for bullying liability. But other law sets special rules you must generally follow when suing a public agency, including a school. If your student has suffered bullying harm, let our attorneys pursue your student's action following these and other special rules:

Section 945.4 generally requires that you present early notice of your claim before pursuing a civil court action. If you do not notify the school first, the civil court may dismiss your student's claim;
Section 911.2 generally requires that you present your student's claim for bullying injury within six months of the claim's accrual, which generally means within six months of when the bullying occurs;
Section 911.4 extends the six-month time to one year or longer on certain grounds;
Section 946.6 allows you to petition the court to file your student's claim even later if you failed to give the school timely notice. Let our attorneys help you make a timely claim or determine whether your student qualifies for a late claim and
Section 946 allows the school board to accept your student's claim and pay it in full, compromise the claim in negotiations with you, or reject the claim, requiring you to file in civil court, generally within six months of the rejection or two years if the school board fails or refuses to act on your notice.

Potential Lawsuit Defendants for California Bullying Liability

The above laws make clear that in a civil court bullying claim, your student's usual recourse is against the school and district, not against individual employees of the school or district. The California Tort Claims Act authorizing money damage recoveries against California government agencies, including public schools, does not generally authorize civil court actions against individual government employees. If the teacher, school principal, or other school official whom you blame for your student's harm was acting within the course of that employee's government duties, then the employee may have immunity from liability. In that case, your student's only recovery would be against the school or district. Individual governmental immunity, though, is a complex issue for which exceptions exist. Let our attorneys evaluate whether your student may recover from an individual government official, including a teacher or school principal.

California Personal Injury Laws Protecting Bullying Victims

While the California Tort Claims Act may permit you to sue your student's school for bullying harm, the Act does not itself tell you whether you have a claim. You must instead look to California's personal injury laws (tort laws) for whether you can hold the school accountable for your student's bullying harm. Negligence is the main tort claim under which your student may recover for bullying. Negligence is the school's failure to use reasonable care in protecting your student. Examples of negligence could include the failure of teachers, staff, principals, and other school officials to reasonably:

monitor classrooms, common areas, and playgrounds for bullying;
take immediate action to intervene to stop bullying;
separate students known to be bullying from bullying victims;
protect bullying victims from further acts of bullying;
act according to school procedures on complaints of bullying;
investigate bullying complaints thoroughly, and
avoid and prevent retaliation for bullying complaints.

Negligence is not the only tort claim your student may be able to maintain. If teachers or other school officials themselves were involved in the bullying, then your student may also have tort claims for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and invasion of privacy. Your student's school may also be vicariously liable for the negligent or other tortious acts of teachers and other school employees. Let our attorneys investigate to determine your student's specific causes of action supporting a bullying claim.

California Private School Liability to Bullying Victims

California's governmental liability laws do not apply to California private schools. If your student has suffered bullying harm at a private elementary or secondary school, you may pursue a civil court action without having to comply with the above notice and time requirements. You will still need to identify the tort claim your student has against the school, its teachers, or other staff. Let our attorneys help you investigate and pursue your student's California private school bullying claim.

Federal Anti-Bullying Laws Supporting Civil Liability

No federal law expressly prohibits bullying while creating a private right of action to recover against schools for bullying harms. You must generally look to California state law rather than federal law to pursue civil litigation to recover for ordinary bullying harm in a California public or private elementary or secondary school. However, bullying often occurs in conjunction with discriminatory behavior that federal laws prohibit. And those federal laws may, in conjunction with 42 USC Section 1983 or other laws, create a private right of action for money damages that you can pursue on your student's behalf. Those federal anti-discrimination laws may include:

Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 grants equal protection to public school students against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects against race, color, or national origin discrimination in all schools, public or private, receiving federal financial assistance;
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects against sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, dating violence, and domestic violence in all schools, public or private, receiving federal financial assistance;
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 guarantees equal access to schools for students with disabilities and prohibits discrimination based on disabilities;
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires schools to reasonably accommodate students with disabilities and
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guaranteeing a free appropriate public education to students with disabilities.

Keep in mind that bullying alone is generally not enough to support a civil court action for monetary damages against the school under these federal laws. You must generally connect the bullying with the protected category or characteristic. You must generally show evidence that the bully acted with animosity over your student's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or other protected attribute. You must also generally have evidence that the school was aware of the unlawfully discriminatory bullying conduct, whether from your complaints, the complaints of your student, or reports by others, but deliberately ignored it to the detriment of your student's federal rights. As with state law civil liability, federal civil liability is a complex subject requiring skilled and experienced representation. Let us help.

Compensation for Bullying Victims in California Schools

When California law authorizes a claim against a public or private elementary or secondary school for bullying liability, the bullying victim may generally recover compensatory damages. Compensatory damages mean every loss that flows naturally and foreseeably from the bullying. Those losses may include out-of-pocket costs like medical expenses, replacement of broken eyeglasses or destroyed backpacks, books, and clothing, and counseling expenses. If your student was working or suffered injuries affecting your student's ability to work, then your student may also recover lost wages and lost earning capacity. Losses may also include non-economic damages like pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, fear, fright, and shock, and lost enjoyment of life. While economic damages may be clear, precise, and easily proven, your student's non-economic damages may far exceed your student's economic loss. Civil courts award non-economic damages in money, meaning that your student may make a substantial recovery even if you and your student have not incurred substantial out-of-pocket losses.

Pre-suit Steps at a California School for a Bullying Victim

You may have to exhaust, or wish to exhaust, school administrative remedies with our help before filing a civil lawsuit to enforce all of your student's rights to monetary damages and injunctive relief. California schools have the authority to settle civil claims for money damages before you file a lawsuit. California schools also have regulatory obligations to prevent and address bullying. California Code of Regulations Section 4630 provides that you may file a complaint with school officials to stop the bullying of your student. Section 4620 requires the school district to investigate your complaint. Section 4631 requires the school's investigation to give you an opportunity to present evidence of the bullying. If you disagree with the school's finding, Section 4632 provides that you may appeal the school's decision to the California Department of Education. After you exhaust your administrative remedies with the school district, if you are not satisfied with the relief, you may file a state-level administrative complaint directly with the California Department of Education. Section 4670 authorizes the state to enforce its ruling against the school by withholding school funds. Let us help you invoke these regulations to protect your student from bullying.

Pursuing a California Civil Action on Behalf of a Bullying Victim

You can see from the above discussion that you can't generally just file a civil lawsuit against your student's school for your student's bullying harm. You must instead meet the requirements of California or federal law, including procedural steps like a pre-suit notice to the school. But once you are ready to pursue a civil lawsuit, these are the steps you should expect to follow:

First, retain our skilled and experienced attorneys to investigate, evaluate, and prepare your claim. Civil litigation requires substantial procedural knowledge and skill. Don't expect good results unless you have premier representation;
Next, expect a period of pre-suit investigation identifying and gathering evidence. You must have admissible evidence to support a claim;
Our attorneys will then research and draft a detailed complaint to file with the appropriate court. Choosing the right court is critical. File in the wrong court, and the court will dismiss your claim;
Our attorneys will serve the court's summons with your complaint on the appropriate school officials, requiring that the school timely answer and defend your claim;
Our attorneys will communicate and negotiate with the school's lawyer for an early, favorable resolution of your case. Many civil cases settle early;
If your case does not resolve at the presentation stage, then expect a period of discovery to follow. We will help you exchange your information and evidence for the school's information and evidence;
We may file pretrial motions on your behalf and respond to the school's motions. Those motions may narrow and, in part, decide the legal claims;
We may help you participate in mediation or similar alternative dispute resolution to avoid the time and uncertainty of a full trial;
If your case does not settle through pretrial procedures and instead goes to trial, we will help you present your evidence while challenging the school's defense evidence;
We may also help you enforce and collect on the judgment in your favor or evaluate and pursue any necessary appeals.

These are just some of the services our attorneys may provide when you retain us to represent your student on a claim against the school for bullying harm. Civil litigation requires refined skills. For the best results, retain the best attorney representatives.

Defending Disciplinary Charges Against a Bullying Victim

Students who suffer bullying sometimes face their own disciplinary proceedings in school. Our Student Defense Team can help you and your students defend those disciplinary proceedings. Ordinarily, the bully is the one who should face discipline. But when a school fails to prevent bullying, the bullying victim may act out from the bullying. When school officials do not act as they should, they may force the student victim to take matters into the victim's own hands. The victim's acting out may take the form of self-defense, hitting the bully back, or making reciprocal threats. The result may be that your student, although a bullying victim, faces disciplinary charges. In that unfortunate case, our Student Defense Team may take any one or more of these actions on your student's behalf:

documenting and reporting the bullying;
answering the disciplinary complaint, raising appropriate defenses;
invoking the school's disciplinary procedures to prove defenses;
communicating and negotiating with school disciplinary officials and
seeking alternative special relief through school oversight channels.

Helping Your Student Avoid California School Bullying

Students can find it very hard to resist bullying. That is the pernicious nature of bullying. Yet you may be able to help your student minimize, discourage, and avoid bullying with these instructions. Ensure that your student understands not to participate in bullying others even if your student has been the subject of bullying. Encourage your student to promptly share with you any instance of bullying that they either experience or see others experience. Also, encourage them to promptly tell teachers or other school staff about the bullying they experience or observe. Also, encourage your student to tell other students to resist, report, and discourage bullying. These steps may not only protect your student and other students but also aid you and your student in bringing a viable legal claim.

Premier Representation for California Bullying Victims

The Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team is available to represent your California elementary or secondary school student in civil litigation for monetary damages and injunctive relief relating to bullying incidents and harms. The Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team has helped hundreds of students nationwide at all levels, from kindergarten through college, and on all issues, including bullying, hazing, harassment, and other harms. Call 888.535.3686 now or chat with us. Get the skilled and experienced help you need to protect your California student.

Litigating Against Schools – Bullying Victims – California