Utah Bullying Victim Representation

If your child is being bullied in a Utah public or private school, it can be one of the most frustrating and anguishing experiences that a parent or guardian can go through. Each day you send your child off to school, you wonder what their day will be like and whether they'll come home upset, anxious, and nervous about returning the next morning. But Utah schools have a legal obligation to take strong steps to try to prevent bullying, and as a result, bullying victims have legal rights they can assert to help schools take that responsibility seriously and bring an end to bullying. The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team can help you understand your rights in these kinds of difficult situations and how to assert those rights on behalf of your student. Contact us at 888.535.3686 or through our contact form to learn more about how we can help.

The Problem of Bullying in Utah's K-12 Schools

Bullying by whatever name – teasing, hazing, harassing – both in-school and via the Internet is a problem that has reached such proportions that Utah has implemented a number of laws requiring schools and school districts to put anti-bullying programs and procedures in place. As you might expect, students who are bullied are less likely to do well in school and more likely to experience significant mental health issues than students who aren't. In some extreme and tragic cases, bullying has driven students to attempt or commit suicide. If your child is being bullied in school, and especially if the bullying seems to be continuing, get help for them. The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team has prepared this summary of Utah's anti-bullying laws and your rights under those laws to help guide you in situations where your student's school isn't responsive to your concerns.

Utah Anti-Bullying Laws

Utah schools are required to put detailed anti-bullying policies in place and to use those policies to prevent and react to student bullying – whether by other students or by school faculty and staff. In particular:

• School employees and students are prohibited from bullying “a school employee or student” on school property, at school events, and on school transportation
• Schools are required to have in place a “bullying, cyber-bullying, hazing, and retaliation policy” with input from students, parents, teachers, school administrators, school staff, and local law enforcement agencies. The policy must cover certain topics and must be distributed to students, school employees, and parents.
• School employees must be trained “regarding bullying, cyber-bullying, hazing, abusive conduct, and retaliation.”
• Schools are required to promptly notify parents when their students are “involved in an incident of bullying, cyber-bullying, hazing, abusive conduct, or retaliation” and to keep records confirming that the parents were notified.

Utah's Bullying Definition

Utah law provides a comprehensive definition of what “bullying” is. In particular, bullying is when someone such as a student (or school employee) commits a “written, verbal, or physical act” against a student (or school employee) that could foreseeably have the following effects:

• Causing “physical or emotional harm” to the person; or
• Causing damage to their property; or
• Placing the person in “reasonable fear” of physical harm to themselves, or of damage to their property; or
• Creating a “hostile, threatening, humiliating, or abusive educational environment” because of the “pervasiveness, persistence, or severity” of the acts, or because of the “power differential between the bully and the target;” or
• Interfering “substantially” with the student's “safe school environment.”

Utah law also defines “cyber-bullying” and “hazing” and what is meant by the term “retaliate,” which is another action prohibited under the state's anti-bullying laws. In particular:

• Cyber-bullying includes using the Internet in some way to send or post “text, video, or an image” that will “hurt, embarrass, or threaten” another;
• Hazing covers a wide range of abusive behaviors that may endanger the student's “mental or physical health or safety;”
• Prohibited retaliation is committing an act “as retribution” against someone who reports bullying, or to “improperly influence” the investigation of or response to a bullying report.

Based on these definitions, there is a wide range of misconduct that likely violates Utah's anti-bullying statutes. For example:

• Taunting, teasing, threatening, harassing, and making physical threats against a student;
• Threatening to damage or damaging a student's property;
• Using physical force against a student, including violent physical force and repeated acts of lesser force designed to harass or annoy the student;
• Maliciously spreading damaging rumors or gossip, whether in-person at school or online;
• Encouraging other students to ignore, taunt, or bully a particular student;
• Posting or circulating online damaging or embarrassing photos, videos, or information about a student;
• Including a student's race, ethnicity, religion, sex, or sexual orientation as a component of any form of bullying.

Utah Liability Laws Protecting Bullying Victims

There isn't a specific part of Utah's anti-bullying laws that allows students (or parents, on their student's behalf) to sue schools, school districts, school personnel, or other students when those anti-bullying laws are violated. That said, the law specifically states that it does not prohibit a victim “from seeking legal redress under any other provisions of civil or criminal law.” That means that other Utah laws will define the extent to which you might be able to sue because your child's school failed to properly implement Utah's anti-bullying requirements or failed to follow the school's own anti-bullying policies and procedures. Utah does have other laws in place that allow citizens to sue governmental authorities, including school districts, provided they follow certain procedures. The Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team can help you navigate those sometimes-tricky requirements when it becomes necessary to file suit.

Utah Governmental Liability Laws Protecting Bullying Victims

Utah doesn't allow you to simply sue a governmental entity such as a school district without first notifying the district that you have a claim against them. This is called a “notice of claim” requirement, and in theory, it's designed to give the school district an opportunity to review your claim and consider whether it's willing to agree to meet your demand, typically a monetary one. In the majority of cases, of course, the district either refuses the demand in the notice of claim or doesn't respond at all within the 60-day time limit. When either of those things happen, you are generally free to bring your lawsuit against the school district.

There are very specific requirements for serving a valid notice of claim on a school district or other governmental entity. It must include a “brief statement of the facts.” It has to state what the claim is that's being asserted against the school district. It must specify the damages that you're claiming “as far as the damages are known.” And in cases where you're making a claim against a specific governmental employee, you need to name the employee. There are also requirements relating to how the claim is signed and how and where it's to be served on the school district. It must be served on the school district within one year “after the claim arises,” which is a relatively short period of time.

The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team understands the Utah governmental notice requirements and can help you prepare and serve a timely and valid notice.

Potential Lawsuit Defendants for Utah Bullying Liability

Utah, along with many other states, has laws that provide broad immunity to government agencies and employees from many types of lawsuits. That said, the law also has dozens of exceptions to these general grants of immunity. In particular, the government – which includes public school districts – can be sued “as to any injury proximately caused by a negligent act or omission of an employee committed within the scope of employment.” Employee or school district negligence is one typical claim that can often be made in cases where a school district is sued because it – through its employees – has failed to make or enforce anti-bullying policies, and a student has been harmed as a result.

This means that school districts, individual schools, and school employees can all potentially be named as defendants in a lawsuit brought on behalf of a student who has been harmed as a result of their failure to have or enforce Utah's required anti-bullying laws. And even though government employees typically enjoy broader immunity from liability than their government employers, the employees are often named in lawsuits in situations where their actions went beyond negligence and were arguably willful or even malicious.

Because each case is different, the question of who to sue is one that has different answers in different situations. This is another area where having the help of an experienced education law attorney from the Lento Law Firm can be enormously helpful.

Utah Personal Injury Laws Protecting Bullying Victims

Utah law doesn't provide special remedies to students who are physically or mentally injured as a result of a school's failure to have or enforce anti-bullying policies. That doesn't mean school districts and school employees can't be sued for these lapses. As noted above, schools and school employees can be sued for negligence when a bullied student is harmed and the school failed to take one or more actions to stop the bullying. The basis for these suits is so-called tort liability, the argument being that the negligence caused the harm. In extreme cases where a school employee's actions were intended to harm the bullied student, the claim can be based on their willful violation of Utah law.

The types of tort claims that can be brought may vary depending on the situation. Possible claims include assault, battery, infliction of emotional distress, defamation (where damaging falsehoods are spread), and invasion of privacy (where personal information or images are sent to others without permission). In addition to Utah state law tort claims, and as will be explained below, there are a number of federal laws that may provide additional grounds on which a school district and school employees can be sued in a bullying case.

Our attorneys will carefully evaluate your situation when deciding the best course of action to take in any bullying case.

Utah Private School Liability to Bullying Victims

Private schools in Utah don't enjoy the same immunity from lawsuit liability that public schools do. In addition, Utah's notice of claim requirements doesn't apply to private entities. As a result, it's generally easier to file a suit against a private school and school employees than it is to file one against a public school district. Your lawsuit will still need to be well-grounded in the facts of your student's particular case if it's to be effective, and our experienced attorneys can help investigate the facts of your case to make sure the complaint filed on behalf of your student is as thorough and strong as possible.

Federal Anti-Bullying Laws Supporting Civil Liability

While there aren't yet federal laws that specifically apply to bullying, cyberbullying, hazing, and similar misconduct encountered in school settings, there are a number of broader federal laws that can often apply in situations where bullying is combined with discriminatory behavior. These civil rights laws often provide what's called a “private right of action” allowing individuals to file a lawsuit and collect damages when the law is violated. Examples of some of the federal laws that may apply to certain student bullying situations include:

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964, in particular section 1983 of that law, which permits a person whose civil rights have been violated by a government official, including state government officials such as teachers and school administrators, for violating that person's civil rights, including “any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws.”
• Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of “race, color, religion, sex or national origin.” This can apply in situations where acts of bullying are combined with words or actions that show a discriminatory intent.
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination by any recipient of federal funding, which includes most school districts and can be cited against schools that permit bullying in a discriminatory way.
• Title IX of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, commonly referred to simply as “Title IX,” guarantees students “an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex.” Title IX has been used to support bullying lawsuits where the actions included sexual assault, sexual harassment, or similar actions focused on the sex or sexual orientation of the bullied student.
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ensures that students with disabilities will not be discriminated against by schools that receive federal funding. Depending on the circumstances, this may be cited against a school that permits or fails to stop the bullying of a student with a disability.
• Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits public entities, such as public schools, from discriminating against students on the basis of their disability and, in particular, requires schools to reasonably accommodate the needs of such students. When failing to do so exposes a student with a disability to bullying or other types of harassment, there may be a basis to include a violation of this federal regulation in a complaint.
• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is designed to “ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education” with educational and other services that are “designed to meet their unique needs.” It can be included in situations where the school failed to provide such services, and where the school's failure to do so contributed to the bullying or harassment of a student.

Note that in most cases, you'll need something more than just bullying to support a claim under federal law. Typically, you need to be able to allege or show that the actions of the bully against your child were driven by their race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, disability, or some other attribute that is protected under federal law. In addition, you will need to show that the bullying continued despite the school being aware of it and, in particular, aware of the discriminatory nature of the bullying. It can be complicated to pull together all of the facts of a bullying case and even more so to determine whether the actions support a federal claim. This is where working with the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team can make all the difference.

Compensation for Bullying Victims in Utah Schools

There are two main types of damages that you may be able to recover in a bullying case in Utah. One type is compensatory damages, which compensate the victim for amounts that they've lost due to the actions of the defendant. These can include the costs of medical and psychological treatment, replacement costs for damaged or stolen property, and similar costs that are relatively easy to measure in monetary terms. In most cases, however, the amounts of compensatory damages are relatively low compared to what are called non-economic damages. These compensate the victim for things like pain and suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, and similar types of harm that can be difficult to precisely quantify but that, in many cases, far exceed the compensatory damages.

Pre-Suit Steps at a Utah School for a Bullying Victim

Because schools in Utah are required to implement anti-bullying rules and procedures, it can be important to take steps to follow those reporting procedures so that the school is notified about the bullying and has a chance to take steps to stop it. Review your school district's anti-bullying policy to see how it handles bullying and similar harassment incidents, and do your best to follow the procedures set forth in the policy if you learn that your child has been bullied at school. It's difficult to support a lawsuit for the school's failure to act in a bullying situation where no one has reported the bullying to the school.

You also should make a record each time you report any bullying incident. Note the date and time you reported it, who you reported it to, and as much detail about what you reported as possible. Write down what school personnel say to you if you report it in person or over the phone, and make sure to keep any email responses from the school about the reported incident. Doing this each time you report bullying will help you in the event the school fails to adequately deal with the situation and will help you in the event you need to file a lawsuit to secure relief for your child and get the school to take the situation seriously.

Similarly, if you're notified by the school that your child has been bullied, record and keep as much information as possible about the incident. Utah law requires schools to notify parents of all students involved in a bullying episode, including, of course, the victim's parents. If your child tells you they've been bullied and that a teacher or school employee was aware of it, but the school doesn't notify you, bring that to the attention of the school. As a parent, you are entitled to a copy of the school's record of the bullying incident. It makes sense to take advantage of this, so ask for and keep a copy each time an incident is reported to you.

Under Utah's anti-bullying laws, schools are required to prepare and offer seminars to parents covering student mental health and bullying unless the school board determines that doing so is not “of significant interest or value to families in the school district.” If your school district offers a mental health seminar, attend it; if they hold one, it's supposed to happen after 6 p.m. at a school in the district. If the district doesn't hold one, notify the school board in writing that doing so is of “significant interest and value” to you as a parent.

Pursuing a Utah Civil Action on Behalf of a Bullying Victim

If you believe a bullying or other harassment situation involving your child at school has gotten to the point where a lawsuit is the best way to make sure that the bullying stops and that the school takes its obligations seriously, contact the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team. We will review the situation with you and advise you of what your rights are in the situation.

Remember, to bring a lawsuit against a school district you first need to present it with a notice of claim. A well-drafted, detailed notice of claim can, in some cases, result in a favorable resolution of the situation without a lawsuit, and where it doesn't, a detailed notice will help when it comes to drafting the complaint.

If a lawsuit is inevitable, you can expect it to include the following steps:

• Drafting and filing of the complaint and service of the complaint on the school district and anyone else named as a defendant. It's important to have a well-drafted, well-supported complaint, and for it to be properly served, or the court may dismiss it without considering the merits of the claims.
• The school district and other defendants will have an opportunity to respond to the complaint, either by answering it or, in some cases, by filing a motion to dismiss it.
• Assuming it's not dismissed, there will typically be a discovery period where both sides will ask for documents, information, and witness depositions from the other side. This can take quite some time but is, in almost all cases, subject to a schedule set by the court.
• There will likely be discussions with the defendants about settling the case; most civil cases settle. These can happen at any time and may happen more than once over the course of the lawsuit.
• There may be motions filed on both sides; generally, these are either needed to get the other side to comply with their discovery obligations or to help narrow the issues to be handled at trial by resolving some of them ahead of time.
• The court may order or encourage the parties to participate in mediation or some other alternative form of dispute resolution; typically, there is no obligation that you resolve the case this way, though it can often be a good way to reach an agreement on a settlement.
• If the case goes to trial, our experienced attorneys will present the evidence supporting your claims to the court, and where appropriate, we'll cross-examine the defense's witnesses and challenge their evidence.
• If there is a judgment in your favor, we will help you collect it from the defendants. If the verdict goes against you, we will evaluate the chances of a successful appeal.

This is a quick summary of the general litigation process. Our experienced education law attorneys will work with you closely every step of the way to help you recover from your student's injuries suffered as a result of the school's failure to protect against bullying, hazing, and the like.

Defending Disciplinary Charges Against a Bullying Victim

There may be a situation where your student, as a result of responding to a bullying situation, is disciplined by their school. As bizarre as it might seem for the bullied student to be the one suffering the discipline, it happens. The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team has years of experience helping students all over the country in school disciplinary proceedings at both the grade and high school level, and we're available to help your child with theirs. We understand how school disciplinary processes work, and we will vigorously defend your child's rights.

Helping Your Student Avoid Utah School Bullying

It's important to make sure your child knows that they should report any bullying incident to you or to the school as soon as it happens. Admittedly, this can be very hard for a child to do, but the best way to put an end to bullying is to bring it out in the open and give the school a chance to take action against it.

Premier Representation for Utah Bullying Victims

The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team can help you if your child is the target of bullying, cyberbullying, or other types of harassment at school. We can help you evaluate the situation, will work with you in discussions with the school about the situation, and where things aren't resolved, we can prepare and serve a strong notice of claim and, if necessary, file a lawsuit based on the school's failure to act and the injuries – both physical and mental – suffered by your child.

The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team has helped hundreds of students all over the country, at every stage of their education, protect their rights. Call us today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to set up a confidential consultation. Every day your child goes to school worried about being bullied is one day too many; let us help you protect your student.