The Observation Deck

Note: Nearly everything else in schools goes in "Lakewood General Discussions" anyway.

Everyone believed City Hall was spending too much of our money on litigation?

In 2013, a lawsuit was filed against Lakewood City Schools by a Lakewood High School student's family. In the suit, the family claims that the student fell through a “trap door” in the stage floor in the Lakewood Civic Auditorium. According to the complaint, this student's leg fell through this “trap door” clear up to the student's hip. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that the student had to undergo surgery and physical therapy, as the student had to have screws and plates put in their knee.

Lakewood City Schools claim that a missing piece of wood “may have weakened” the trap door in question.

Long story short, this original lawsuit dragged on for about three years, with Lakewood City Schools using “political subdivision immunity” as their defense. The trial court at Cuyahoga County denied this defense, and Lakewood City Schools filed an appeal 10/6/2016. After some time in the Court of Appeals, the student's family moved to dismiss the lawsuit, as a similar case was pending in Xenia, Ohio regarding “political subdivision immunity”.

The story becomes cloudy here, but something must not have gone in the school's favor, as Lakewood City Schools re-filed their appeal with the Court of Appeals on 4/24/2017, apparently still attempting to use “'political subdivision immunity” as their defense.

As of today, this case is still tied up in the Court of Appeals, with the next court date set for 11/14/2017 before the appeals panel.

The student's injury first occurred in late 2011. Litigation originally commenced in 2013. It is now almost 2018, and the case is still not even close to being through the Court of Appeals.

How much of our money has Lakewood City School's spent on this case? The family is not requesting an enormous settlement, but apparently just enough to cover medical expenses.

In my opinion, this is an outrage. Why drag this through court for five years? To prove a point? To receive their desired ruling on “political subdivision immunity” to possibly shield themselves from future litigation? Why not just settle out of court? By now, it would probably be cheaper.

If the appeals court rules in favor of the student's family, I believe Lakewood City Schools will not only be paying the settlement, but also all court fees, and those are not cheap.

Also, the bottom line here is the difference between right and wrong, and doing the right thing. Most of us are brought up to confess and tell the truth when you make a mistake or are negligent. When you hit a baseball through your neighbor's window, many kids are made to work for the money to repair it. If the schools are supposed to be teaching our children morals and ethics, the administration should be practicing what they preach, in my opinion.

Out of respect for the privacy of the family and all involved, I will refrain from posting any documentation or similar information here. If you want the case numbers to look up the case, feel free to PM me.

I know that it is an unspoken rule here that saying anything against the schools is a big no-no, so I am fully expecting a good tongue-lashing for one reason or another.

Unfortunately, it will be difficult for anyone to BS their way out of this one, I suspect.

If we knew how much was being spent on legal fees for this case, we could get out a calculator and we for sure if it would be cheaper to just settle.

It reminds me of cities and school districts that fight workers to the bone over a workman's Como claim. After all the legal fees, it would have just been easier to cough up the workman's Como money.

I'd like to know how much has been spent on litigation city and school related to questionable decisions made in the last few years.
Bullock complained loudly about the costs to the city of the hospital suit, but it wouldn't have happened if the city had been more transparent. The suits have multiplied recently.

Dan Alaimo wrote:I'd like to know how much has been spent on litigation city and school related to questionable decisions made in the last few years.
Bullock complained loudly about the costs to the city of the hospital suit, but it wouldn't have happened if the city had been more transparent. The suits have multiplied recently.

I agree. It is no secret that virtually all governments waste money. It really takes the cake to spend time and money on lawyers and lawsuits when the issue probably could have been resolved out of court for cheaper.

Again, I don't understand the point of filing two appeals. It will be interesting to see how their "immunity" defense is taken in the court of appeals. Who knows, maybe they will go all the way to the Supreme Court and spend more money.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, it will be interesting to see if the case is suddenly settled or dropped in the near future.

Lori Allen _ wrote:Now that the cat is out of the bag, it will be interesting to see if the case is suddenly settled or dropped in the near future.

Lori

I would point out that many of the cases sighted, or the major one here is probably being covered by insurance, not tax-payers money.

However whenever the City or the Schools hire a lawyer to handle outside litigation, then the dollars get cranked up.

An example would be when part-time Law Director hired a law firm to keep Charlie on the move. That is out of our pocket.

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Lori Allen _ wrote:Now that the cat is out of the bag, it will be interesting to see if the case is suddenly settled or dropped in the near future.

An example would be when part-time Law Director hired a law firm to keep Charlie on the move. That is out of our pocket.

.

There is an opportunity for high comedy here with a series of public records requests on city records for the exclusion or ejectment of Charlie from the community. I'm sure such documents are ridiculous on their face.

The Lakewood Observer is banned from City Hall.

Charlie the Dog is banned from the City of Lakewood.

Who's next?

Mark Kindt wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Lori Allen _ wrote:Now that the cat is out of the bag, it will be interesting to see if the case is suddenly settled or dropped in the near future.

An example would be when part-time Law Director hired a law firm to keep Charlie on the move. That is out of our pocket.

.

There is an opportunity for high comedy here with a series of public records requests on city records for the exclusion or ejectment of Charlie from the community. I'm sure such documents are ridiculous on their face.

The Lakewood Observer is banned from City Hall.

Charlie the Dog is banned from the City of Lakewood.

Who's next?

You forgot--free speech is banned on the Lakewood Community Facebook page--by "Kelly Anne" Pae.

Folks,

With respect to all posts, I think this thread was slightly derailed.

Let's assume that there is a liability insurance policy. Most likely, the policy was taken out for only so much coverage. With this being dragged out for so long to different courts, there is a good chance the policy may be maxed out.

Regardless, that does not excuse the simple fact that the schools appear to be spending all of this time/money in an attempt to worm their way out of something that was, ultimately, their fault to begin with.

Again, this all boils down to my old analogy. If a kid hits a baseball through his neighbor's windows, he should be made to work to pay to repair it.

In this case, it appears that the student's family is only seeking compensation for medical expenses for the multiple surgeries and numerous hours of physical therapy. In my opinion, that is more than fair. In addition to being a financial issue, this is also an issue of morality and doing the right thing.

Much like most school districts and governments however, it looks like the schools are going to fight the parents/taxpayers to the bitter end.

Win at all costs, I guess.

Ms. Allen. My apologies for the thread drift. You may be surprised to learn that in many cases liability insurance does not have caps on the amounts related to the defense of the claim. However, your point is well-taken that claims like these are always amenable to a timely and reasonable settlement. Judges also have a duty to move cases along timely and encourage settlement. So do the lawyers on each side.

Mark Kindt wrote:Ms. Allen. My apologies for the thread drift. You may be surprised to learn that in many cases liability insurance does not have caps on the amounts related to the defense of the claim. However, your point is well-taken that claims like these are always amenable to a timely and reasonable settlement. Judges also have a duty to move cases along timely and encourage settlement. So do the lawyers on each side.

Thanks for the information.

Nonetheless, I expect that all of this ligation is going to cost money, be it in the short-term or in the long run. I doubt you can drag a case through court for years and have insurance pay 100% of it.

Regardless, it is morally deplorable to drag a student and their family through this when the desired settlement is medical bills. The family is not asking for millions of dollars (and not even $50,000). Whose decision is this? In my opinion, they should be ashamed of themselves.

There was also a lady I knew that worked for the schools a while ago. Mind you that she was probably in her 80's at the time. She was somehow hurt on the job, and was refused workman's comp for years. They fought her to the bone until recently, I believe. This woman has to be in her 90's by now. Just give her the workman's comp.