Illinois Bullying Victim Representation
Don't let bullying of your Illinois grade school student affect your student's education, health, and welfare. Bullying is a serious offense that can bring severe harm. Illinois law clearly prohibits bullying, giving you tools to fight, stop, and make a monetary recovery for your student's bullying harm. You can take effective steps to minimize and address your student's bullying harm when you have the skilled and experienced legal services and representation you need. The Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team is available to help your student pursue civil litigation to recover monetary damages for bullying harm in an Ohio grade school.
Bullying in Illinois Grade Schools
Illinois's anti-bullying law recognizes that bullying is a problem in Illinois schools. The Illinois General Assembly has found that “bullying causes physical, psychological, and emotional harm to students and interferes with students' ability to learn and participate in school activities.” The Centers for Disease Control reports increased depression, academic failure, and school dismissal or dropout from bullying harm. Parents in Illinois have sued prominent Illinois grade schools over bullying harm, alleging that bullying has even caused student death. The National Library of Medicine reports that student suicide can closely correlate with school bullying. In response, the Illinois General Assembly updated its bullying law in 2023 to require schools to notify parents more promptly when their student has suffered bullying so that parents can help the student recover from the harm. Protect your Illinois grade school student from bullying harm. Retain the Lento Law Firm's Team of attorneys to help your student recover money damages and other relief through civil litigation and related procedures.
The Illinois Anti-Bullying Law
The Illinois General Assembly has adopted an anti-bullying statute that clearly declares bullying to be unlawful and places the obligation on the school to prevent and redress bullying. Illinois Code Section 5/27-23.7 declares that bullying “is prohibited in all school districts, charter schools, and non-public, non-sectarian elementary and secondary schools.” The Illinois anti-bullying law further declares that “no student shall be subjected to bullying” during school programs, while on school property or off school property at a school function, or through the use of electronic devices. The Illinois anti-bullying law requires every school district to adopt and publicize a policy prohibiting bullying and to train teachers and staff to recognize, report, and prevent bullying. The Illinois anti-bullying law also creates a fund out of which to pay for anti-bullying training. You have clear and substantial Illinois law behind you when helping your student avoid and address bullying harm.
How Illinois Defines Bullying
The Illinois anti-bullying law defines bullying broadly as “any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or electronically, directed toward a student” that either places the student in reasonable fear of harm, causes a substantially detrimental effect on the student, or substantially interferes with the student's academic performance or ability to participate in school services, activities, or privileges. The Illinois anti-bullying law gives as non-exclusive examples “harassment, threats, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, sexual harassment, sexual violence, theft, public humiliation, destruction of property, or retaliation for asserting or alleging an act of bullying.” Typical examples of bullying that would fall within the Illinois definition include:
- teasing, taunting, ridiculing, slurring, profaning, and other demeaning communications relating to any physical characteristic or perceived attribute or association;
- slugging, striking, slapping, tripping, pinching, spitting, pulling hair, kicking, and other violence against the victim student;
- spreading rumors, gossip, slander, or libel through the school or online to ridicule, embarrass, and shame the victim student; or
- coercing and extorting the victim student to withdraw from student interaction and school programs or relinquish property or other rights and interests.
Cyberbullying Falls Within the Illinois Definition of Bullying
The Illinois anti-bullying law also prohibits cyberbullying. The law defines cyberbullying to include using “any electronic communication,” including “any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature….” The law expressly includes cyberbullying as “the creation of a webpage or weblog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person or the knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages….”
Group Harm Falls Within the Illinois Definition of Bullying
The Illinois anti-bullying law recognizes that bullying typically occurs in connection with the victim student's protected characteristics as a member of a group. The Illinois law defines bullying to include intimidation “on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, physical appearance, socioeconomic status, academic status, pregnancy, parenting status, homelessness, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual orientation, gender-related identity or expression, unfavorable discharge from military service, association with a person or group with one or more of the aforementioned actual or perceived characteristics, or any other distinguishing characteristic….” Illinois law thus gives your student broad protections against many forms of bullying.
Illinois Civil Liability Laws Compensating Bullying Victims
The Illinois anti-bullying law does not, on its face, create a private right of action for money damages. You must look to other Illinois laws for your student's right to pursue civil litigation for a money damages recovery for bullying harm. The Illinois anti-bullying law expressly declares that it “shall not be interpreted to prevent a victim from seeking redress under any other available civil or criminal law.” Our attorneys can help you determine which other Illinois laws may help your student make a money damages recovery in civil litigation against the school.
Illinois Governmental Liability Laws and Bullying Victims
Illinois has adopted a Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act that grants immunity to local government, including public schools and public school employees. Such immunity laws are common among the states, going back to the common law theory of sovereign immunity, that one cannot sue the king without the king's permission. However, like many other similar state laws, the Illinois governmental immunity law permits lawsuits against local governments, including public school employees, in certain instances. The primary exception in the Illinois governmental immunity law states, “A public employee is not liable for his act or omission in the execution or enforcement of any law unless such act or omission constitutes willful and wanton conduct.”
The Illinois governmental immunity law repeats that willful and wanton conduct exception at other points, making clear that your student may maintain a civil action for monetary damages against the school and school officials if they have such evidence. The law defines willful and wanton conduct as “a course of action which shows an actual or deliberate intention to cause harm or which, if not intentional, shows an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others or their property.” The key to your student's civil liability claim under state law is thus to present evidence of the utter indifference of school officials to reports of bullying harm and their conscious disregard for your student's safety.
Illinois Personal Injury Laws and Bullying Victims
The above Illinois governmental immunity law and its willful and wanton conduct exception do not state the form of your student's claim. Your student must still allege a recognized legal theory while also presenting evidence that school officials acted with utter indifference or conscious disregard. Illinois law recognizes negligence as a tort theory for the recovery of civil damages. The failure of your student's school officials to reasonably monitor the school to prevent bullying, reasonably investigate and respond to bullying incidents, and reasonably protect your student from bullying harm may provide your student's theory of recovery. But again, your student must also present evidence of the utter indifference and conscious disregard of school officials to reported bullying incidents.
Illinois law recognizes other theories of recovery in addition to negligence theories. Other Illinois tort theories that may apply include assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, defamation, or invasion of privacy. Intentional tort theories are more likely if school employees participated in the harm, encouraged and facilitated it, or ratified it after its occurrence. Proving the school's vicarious liability for intentional wrongs by students is otherwise problematic. Recognize the complexity of these laws. Retain our skilled and experienced attorneys for the help your student needs to make a money damages recovery.
Illinois Private School Compensation for Bullying Victims
The Illinois governmental immunity law applies to public school and public school officials, not to a private school and its employees. Your student may thus have all of the above tort theories of recovery against a private school without having to prove willful and wanton conduct. Your student may also have contract theories of recovery if the private school makes promises to protect your student from bullying.
Federal Laws Compensating for Bullying Harm
While Illinois and nearly all other states expressly prohibit bullying, federal law does not do so. Congress has only limited spending authority to legislate to state matters like the operation of state public schools. Federal law thus does not expressly create a private right of action for bullying harm. But federal law does include a provision, known as Section 1983, that creates a right to sue a state entity, like a public school, when public officials violate constitutional rights under the color of state law. Substantive due process rights are constitutional rights that may protect your student from bullying harm in certain special situations where school officials have a significant role in that harm. The case of Jones v. Reynolds, 438 F.3d 685, 690 (6th Cir. 2006), for instance, recognized a state-created danger theory for a Section 1983 recovery for public official harm. Similarly, the case of Soper v. Hoben, 195 F.3d 845, 852 (6th Cir. 1999) recognized a special relationship theory for a Section 1983 recovery for public official harm. The case of Range v. Douglas, 763 F.3d 573, 588 (6th Cir. 2014), recognized shocks the conscience theory for a Section 1983 recovery for public official harm. Litigants have used these theories to pursue substantial monetary recovery for bullying harm in extraordinary cases.
Bullying Compensation Under Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws
Federal anti-discrimination laws may provide your student with another alternative to Illinois state laws and federal Section 1983 theories to recover money damages in a civil action for school bullying harm. As indicated above, the Illinois anti-bullying law recognizes that bullying typically occurs based on the victim's protected characteristics, like race, color, national origin, sex, religion, and disability. If your student's school has violated one or more of these federal anti-discrimination laws in connection with the school's failure to prevent and address bullying, then you may have a Section 1983 claim or claim under other federal law for money damages:
- Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act on reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities;
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 on equal educational access for students with disabilities;
- the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) on a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities;
- Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as to discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as to discrimination based on race, color, or national origin; and
- Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 as to sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, dating violence, and domestic violence.
Defendants for Illinois Bullying Liability
The school and school district are the typical defendants in lawsuits seeking monetary damages for bullying. But Illinois law may permit you to sue not only your student's school and school district but also the school officials who negligently failed to prevent the bullying harm. Many states grant immunity to public employees, requiring aggrieved individuals to sue the public entity instead. The Illinois governmental immunity law likewise protects public employees. But you've seen above that the Illinois governmental immunity law waives immunity and imposes liability when the public employee causes harm with willful and wanton conduct, defined as an utter indifference and conscious disregard of harm. Your student may also sue the student wrongdoers, although recovering money from a student would be improbable. Parents may also, in some circumstances, bear responsibility for harm their student causes. Our attorneys can help you determine the proper defendants for your student's money damages action.
Forms of Compensation for Illinois Bullying Victims
Illinois law defines the types of damages that your student may recover if your student has evidence supporting a viable liability theory for bullying harm. Compensatory damages to make your student whole are the usual form of damages recovery. Your student may have suffered economic losses for out-of-pocket medical expenses and counseling expenses and to replace damaged, destroyed, or stolen personal property like prescription glasses, electronic devices, clothing, jewelry, and books and backpacks. Your student may also have suffered recoverable wage loss or lost earning capacity from serious harm. But the larger form of recovery may be for non-economic losses like pain, suffering, humiliation, embarrassment, fear, fright, shock, mental and emotional distress, and lost enjoyment of life.
Illinois law also authorizes punitive damages in certain cases. Rather than compensating for the victim's injuries, punitive damages punish the defendant to discourage future wrongs. An award of punitive damages requires evidence of a more reprehensible wrong. The Illinois punitive damages statute requires clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted “with evil motive or with a reckless and outrageous indifference to a highly unreasonable risk of harm and with a conscious indifference to the rights and safety of others.” We can help you determine your student's damages to present in your student's civil case.
Pursuing a Civil Action for Bullying in Illinois
The Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team has the skill and experience to pursue your student's money damages claim for bullying harm. You can see from the above discussion that governmental liability laws are complex. Attorneys who practice ordinary civil litigation over auto accidents or business disputes seldom entertain tort litigation involving the government. Our attorneys have the qualifications you need for effective representation in a school bullying claim. We can help you investigate and collect evidence of the willful and wanton conduct of school officials and their utter indifference and conscious disregard for school safety. We can choose the proper court, draft and file a detailed and compelling complaint, and engage in mediation and negotiation toward an early voluntary settlement of your student's case. If your student's case does not settle to your satisfaction, we can move forward through discovery and pretrial motions to the trial of your student's case. Our attorneys can also assist with enforcing the money judgment and appealing or defending appeals. Get the help you need for your student's best outcome.
Defending Disciplinary Charges Against Bullying Victims
The Illinois anti-bullying law recognizes that bullying victims may act out in response to bullying, causing their own disciplinary issues: “The General Assembly further finds that bullying has been linked to other forms of antisocial behavior, such as vandalism, shoplifting, skipping and dropping out of school, fighting, using drugs and alcohol, sexual harassment, and sexual violence.” You shouldn't be surprised if your student, although the bullying victim, ends up facing school disciplinary charges. That is how some bullying incidents first come to light when the bullying victim faces discipline for defending against the bullying or for acting out in reaction.
Acting out may involve your student's disrespect of teachers and school staff, disruption of class or other school activities, failure to progress academically, or property damage or trespass. Or your student may face disciplinary charges for fighting when, to the contrary, your student was only acting in self-defense or retaliating for the bullying. Let our attorneys help you and your student defend school disciplinary charges. We may be able to present evidence in the course of those disciplinary proceedings showing that your student was a bullying victim and deserves protection and compensation. Don't let the school turn the tables on your student. Hold your student's school accountable to the Illinois anti-bullying law. Don't let your student's school make your student a victim all over again when the school should have stopped the bullying.
Tips for Your Student to Avoid Illinois School Bullying
The school has the obligation to prevent bullying. Your student is not responsible for stopping bullying. But your student may have several things your student can do to help your student's own cause. Your student may be able to help school officials stop the bullying while also helping your student's case for a money damages recovery for bullying harm. Don't place the onus on your student. But help your student avoid and minimize the bullying to the extent that your student can do so.
Ensure that your student understands not to participate in the bullying. School bullies may use bullying to recruit students to join the bullying cause. If your student does so, your student may face discipline and lose the right to pursue a recovery. Ensure that your student tells you immediately about any bullying so that you can report the bullying to school officials and hold school officials accountable. Urge your student to report to teachers and other school officials as soon as the bullying occurs, but also support your student in making those reports. If your student expresses concern over retaliation for reporting bullying, make sure your student knows that school officials must protect your student against such retaliation.
Premier Representation Available for Illinois Bullying Victims
The Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team is available across Illinois to represent your grade school student in civil litigation for a monetary award compensating for bullying harm. Our attorneys have helped hundreds of students nationwide with bullying, intimidation, harassment, and other school conduct issues. Call 888.535.3686 now or chat with us for the skilled and experienced representation your Illinois student needs to recover from bullying harm.
