“School board members in Mount Vernon agreed Wednesday night to resolve a federal lawsuit by paying $5,500 to the boy and his family and $115,500 to their lawyers.” [AP/NBC4i] We covered the case, in which a teacher is alleged to have branded a cross onto a pupil’s arm, in July; the teacher, John Freshwater, has himself filed a civil rights action against the school district charging religious discrimination, and a suit by the parents against Freshwater remains ongoing.
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Amazing (and disappointing, and unfortunately not surprising) that the lawyers collect 20 times as much as the victims.
Those lawyers deserved every penny. Imagine the trauma they experienced having to discuss that horrible disfigurement.
Couldn’t Mr. Freshwater, the teacher, file a suit against the parents for violation of civil rights (namely, discrimination because of his religious beliefs), just like he did vs. the district? have
At least the attorneys were made whole.
It’s mind-boggling that the school board chose to fight a case where a teacher branded a student’s arm, especially if the family was willing to take only $5,500 in settlement.