Kentucky Supreme Court
Floyd Lawrence Patton, as Administrator of the Estate of Stephen Lawrence Patton v. Davida Bickford, Paul Fanning…
April 1, 2016529 S.W.3d 717
Summary
The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for the school administrators and teachers, but on grounds substantially different from those used below. It held that administrators making school policies were protected by qualified official immunity, while teachers performing and enforcing those policies were not; however, the Estate lacked sufficient non-speculative evidence that bullying caused Stephen Patton's suicide. The Court also held that bullying may support a wrongful-death claim when it is shown to be a substantial factor in causing suicide, so suicide is not invariably a superseding intervening cause. Justice Cunningham, concurring in result only, would have treated the teachers' bullying-related duties as discretionary, applied the federal teacher-protection statute, and remained unwilling to reject suicide as a superseding cause.
Holding
- Qualified official immunity for administrators' policy-making functions. Administrators are protected by qualified official immunity from the Estate's claim that ACMS's anti-bullying policies were inadequate because selecting the specific provisions and assessing their adequacy involved discretionary policy judgments.
- Qualified official immunity for administrators' supervision and policy-implementation functions. The administrators were entitled to summary judgment because their general supervision, monitoring of policy implementation, assignment of supervisory tasks, and responses to policy violations involved discretionary judgment rather than the execution of a fixed, specific act.
- Qualified official immunity for teachers enforcing anti-bullying policies. The teachers were not protected by qualified official immunity because supervising students, stopping specified bullying conduct, and reporting observed or reported bullying were ministerial duties, even though carrying them out required some factual assessment and judgment.
- Causation and suicide as a superseding intervening cause. Bullying or torment may support a wrongful-death claim when it is shown to be a substantial factor in causing suicide, and suicide is not categorically a superseding intervening cause. Nevertheless, summary judgment for the teachers was proper because the Estate offered insufficient non-speculative evidence that the alleged bullying caused Stephen's suicide.
Docket 2013-SC-000560-DG
Cited authorities
- 20 U.S.C. §§ 6733
- 20 U.S.C. § 6733(6)(D)
- 20 U.S.C. § 6736(a)(l)
- 20 U.S.C. § 6732