A California appeals court sided with a former middle school student who sued the El Segundo Unified School District six years ago for failing to protect her from verbal and cyber bullying.
In losing the appeal, El Segundo Unified will have to pay Eleri Irons, now in her 20s, the $1-million jury verdict she was awarded in 2022.
That’s when a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found the district’s negligence, including in supervising and training its employees, factored into the harm suffered by Irons, who was 13 when the nearly yearlong bullying campaign began in fall 2017.
“This ruling confirms what the jury already knew,” Irons’ attorney Christa Ramey said in a statement. “Eleri was failed at every level by the very people who were supposed to protect her.”
A call to an attorney representing the school district was not returned.
Irons sued the school district in 2019, saying she was “bullied, tormented and verbally assaulted” by three students, including two formerly close friends, while attending El Segundo Middle School from November 2017 to June 2018.
The bullying started after Irons asked a friend if she could date her ex-boyfriend.
One student bullied Irons on social media soon afterward, according to court documents. The girl called Irons a “cheater,” a “slut” and other slurs on social media; on campus, she screamed at her and made obscene gestures. The student even slapped Irons on one occasion, the documents state.
Irons reached out to a school counselor, but the bullying only worsened. On one occasion, the counselor responded that “girls will be girls” after Irons shared a series of threatening texts, according to court documents.
Irons’ family eventually reached out to the principal and teachers, but the bullying did not stop, documents say. The harassing student eventually created a petition entitled, “End Eleni Irons’ life,” which circulated throughout campus.
The school principal did alert police, but court papers said neither Irons nor her parents were made aware of the petition by school officials.
The petition’s creator and another student were suspended for the act.
Irons’ psychologist eventually diagnosed her with PTSD and an adjustment disorder with depressed mood and anxiety.
Before year’s end, Irons applied to transfer out of the district to a private high school.
She then sued the school district in 2019 and, in 2022, won $700,000 for non-economic damages and $300,000 for future non-economic damages.
The district appealed that decision. Its arguments included that the trial court erred in allowing various provisions of the education code to support Irons’ negligence claim; that the district was immune to liability from decisions made by middle school employees; and that Irons failed to prove any injuries were caused by employee negligence.
The El Segundo district argued that specific provisions in the education code address when a school may punish a student for engaging in harmful or disruptive behavior, but “do not create any mandatory duties” on the part of the school to protect students from other students’ behavior.
The appeals court responded that the district’s first argument was “misguided” and “meritless” and that El Segundo did have a duty to protect Irons.
On immunity, the district argued that decisions made by middle school employees on how to respond to Irons’ bullying complaints were “discretionary” under California government code and could not expose the district to liability.
The appeals court also shot down that argument, saying that Irons presented clear evidence that school employees, including the principal and counselor, did not follow basic bullying procedures and guidelines.
“Instead of taking accountability and supporting this young woman’s recovery, the district chose to spend taxpayer money fighting her in court for years,” attorney Ramey said. “That’s not leadership. That’s cowardice.”
