Tort laws are laws that offer
remedies to individuals harmed by the unreasonable actions of others. Tort
claims usually involve state law and are based on the legal premise that
individuals are liable for the consequences of their conduct if it results in injury
to others (McCarthy & Cambron-McCabe, 1992). Tort laws involve civil suits,
which are actions brought to protect an individual’s private rights. There are
two major categories of torts typically seen in education-related cases:
intentional and negligence.
Intentional
Torts
Intentional torts are usually
offenses committed by a person who attempts or intends to do harm. For intent
to exist, the individual must be aware that injury will be the result of the
act. A common type of intentional tort is assault. Assault refers to an overt
attempt to physically injure a person or create a feeling of fear and
apprehension of injury. No actual physical contact need take place for an
assault to occur. Battery, on the other hand, is an intentional tort that results
from physical contact. For example, if a person picks up a chair and threatens
to hit another person, assault has occurred; if the person then actually hits
the second person, battery has occurred. Both assault and battery can occur if
a person threatens another, causing apprehension and fear, and then actually
strikes the other, resulting in actual injury.
Teachers accused of assault and
battery are typically given considerable leeway by the courts (Alexander &
Alexander, 1992). This is because assault and battery cases often result from
attempts to discipline a student or stop a student from injuring someone.
Courts are generally reluctant to interfere with a teacher’s authority to
discipline students (Valente, 1994). Courts have found teachers guilty of
assault and battery, however, when a teacher’s discipline has been cruel,
brutal, excessive, or administered with malice, anger, or intent to injure.
In determining if a teacher’s
discipline constitutes excessive and unreasonable punishment, courts will often
examine the age of the student, the instrument, if any, used to administer the
discipline, the extent of the discipline, the nature and gravity of the
student’s offense, the history of the student’s previous conduct, and the
temper and conduct of the teacher. For example, a teacher in Louisiana was sued
and lost a case for assault and battery for picking up a student and slamming
him against bleachers. The teacher then dropped the student to the floor
resulting in the student’s arm being broken (Frank v. New Orleans Parish School
Board, 1967). In Connecticut, a student was awarded damages when a teacher
slammed the student against a chalkboard and then a wall, breaking the
student’s clavicle (Sansone v. Bechtel,1980). Clearly, both of these actions were
excessive and indicate that in such situations teachers may be held personally
liable for injuries that occur to students because of the teacher’s behavior.
Negligence
Torts
The second type of tort seen most
frequently in education related cases is negligence. The difference between
negligence and an intentional tort is that in negligence the acts leading to
injury are neither expected nor intended. Students who bring negligence claims
must prove that school personnel should have foreseen and prevented the injury
by exercising proper care. Accidents that could not have been prevented by
reasonable care do not constitute negligence (McCarthy & Cambron-McCabe,
1992).
There are four elements that must be
present for negligence to occur: (1) the teacher must have a duty to protect
students from unreasonable risks, (2) the teacher must have failed in that duty
by not exercising a reasonable standard of care, (3) there must be a causal
connection between the breach of the duty to care and the resulting injury, and
(4) there must be an actual physical or mental injury resulting from the
negligence. In a court, all four elements must be proven before damages will be
awarded for negligence.
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