Comments on: Legal hazards of waking students

By: banlon

banlon — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:08:48 +0000

…cleric teachers routinely slammed a heavy textbook directly on top of the head of any sleeping student — at the Catholic all-boys high school I attended in New York City.

By: supremecourtjester

supremecourtjester — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:48:08 +0000

From the “You Snooze, You sues Dept” no doubt. Is he the only one in the room suing, or is it a class action?

By: Tom Brandt

Tom Brandt — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:31:30 +0000

My HS econ teacher, a former minor-league pitcher (lefty), was deadly with a chalkboard eraser. That was in 1973, when teachers could get away with that sort of thing.

By: tracy

tracy — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:05:39 +0000

Jim-
A shaken shoulder would have led to a lawsuit AND assault charges. Teachers are trained from the first day never to lay a hand on a student, even in a innocent way.

This kids lucky, my HS teachers used to smack those yard sticks against your desk.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:31:08 +0000

If his ear was down on the desk, where I suspect it was if he was sleeping, I can easily see how this could have caused injury. I don’t see why the hospital’s insurance carrier wouldn’t already have tried to cover this, actually.

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:17:55 +0000

There’s a somewhat significant difference between making a loud noise (i.e., slapping the desk top) and pushing air under pressure directly into the ear drums.

Perhaps the kid should sue his parents for leaving him with sub-standard ear drums…

By: JB

JB — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:13:19 +0000

She should have thrown a chalkboard eraser at him.

By: Jim Collins

Jim Collins — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:22:23 +0000

I hope that the kid takes them for 5 or 10 million. There are dozens of ways to wake someone up. I can speak from experience on how easy it is to rupture an eardrum. In 8th grade some moron snuck up behind me and smacked his cupped hands over my ears resulting in the rupturing of both eardrums. The ruptures eventually healed, but it took a few weeks of pain and discomfort. A shaken shoulder would have accomplished the same result.

By: Samson Isberg

Samson Isberg — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:35:47 +0000

Do these students care about their names being published like this? I mean, who in their right mind would employ this student now or later? Not because he has been snoozing in class, I suspect we all have done that from time to time, but for being a runner-up for the 2008 Stella award?