Negligence Lawsuit Against Groton, School Board, Moves Forward

A mother whose 15-year-old daughter was assaulted and had her arm broken during a class at Fitch High School in 2005 is taking her negligence case against the town forward  this week.

The case, originally filed on behalf of the girl by her parent on Nov. 6, 2007, against the Town of Groton, the Board of Education, former Fitch High Principal John Luciano and teacher Todd Higgins, is scheduled for pretrial conference on Wednesday in New London Superior Court.

Court records show that the girl’s lawyer, Michael Anderson of Norwich, filed an offer of compromise for $100,000 on June 2, 2009. On Feb. 24, 2011, the town, through its lawyers, filed a motion for summary judgment, saying “the plaintiff’s negligence claims against the municipal defendants are barred by the doctrine of governmental immunity to which no exception is applicable in this case.”

According to the original complaint, the girl was in history class on Nov. 7, 2005 watching a movie when a special education student sitting next to her, also 15, hit her with a paper airplane, then grabbed her arm and twisted it. “As a result of the incident, (the girl) suffered a Salter II fracture of her right distal radius, pain in the right wrist and numbness in the right fingers,” the complaint said.

It said the girl has needed surgery, medication, physical therapy and had to limit her extra curricular and daily activities. A substitute teacher was filling in for Higgins the day of the incident, court records show.

The complaint alleges that the school district failed to property supervise students while the movie was being shown, failed to have a system in place to supervise the special education student, and failed to immediately restrain him. It says the student had prior disciplinary actions against him, so the town should have known he posed a risk to other students if not closely supervised.

The town is being represented by lawyers from Howd & Ludorf, LLC, and Halloran & Sage, LLP, both of Hartford. In its arguments for summary judgment, lawyers for Groton said there is no evidence the substitute wasn’t watching and that the teacher didn’t see the paper airplane being thrown.

“From the moment the paper airplane landed on the plaintiff’s desk to the moment the co-defendant twisted her wrist, less than thirty seconds elapsed,” Kristan M. Maccini, of Howd & Ludorf, wrote. What happened “was not imminent - rather it was a random isolated incident,” she said.

Lawyers for the girl said disciplinary records indicate the special education student had prior disciplinary action against him. On Feb. 24, 2004, the student was suspended for one day for throwing a marker at a student and a small cube at another student; on April 26, 2004, he was suspended for five days after having a confrontation with another student; in September 2004, he received a warning; and in May 2005, he received a detention for picking on other students in class, according to documents filed by the plaintiff.

Maccini wrote that none of the records show an actual assault by the student on another student prior to the incident, and there was no evidence that he’d been singled out as someone who should be watched. She said Higgins is being sued even though he was absent and another teacher was in his place.