News Archive: June 2011
June 30, 2011Trial Results: June 2011
Eric Harrison and Jennifer Herrmann obtained summary judgment in an educational civil rights case in which the plaintiff , a young disabled student with a history of behavioral outbursts, sued on account of the school staff ’s use of restraint to protect the student from harming himself or others. Federal Judge Hayden agreed that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies requiring a dismissal of the claims on June 30, 2011.
Martin McGowan tried a case in Monmouth County before Judge BelBueno Cleary, which had been previously arbitrated at a value of $240,000. The claimed injury was a trifibular cartilage tear of the dominant wrist. We contended that there was no tear, only a sprain, which had resolved. A jury found that the plaintiff sustained an injury causally related to the accident, but awarded no damages. Plaintiff’s motion for new trial was denied.
Jennifer Herrmann received a favorable decisions from the Commissioner of Education when the Commissioner agreed with our statutory interpretation arguments to hold that terminated employees do not have a right to receive a statement of reasons or have a hearing before the Board of Education (“Donaldson hearing”). These rights are statutorily conferred on non-renewed employees, but the Commissioner found that terminated employees do not hold the same rights.