Ramsey (NJ) school bullying suit settled for $4.2 million

A couple days old, admitted, but relevant.

Sawyer Rosenstein was a 12-year-old middle school student in Ramsey when a punch to his stomach by a bully ended his dreams of becoming an actor and put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

It wasn’t the first time Sawyer said he had been victimized. In fact, he documented his troubles in emails to school officials, pleading with them for help. “I would like to let you know that the bullying has increased,” he wrote to his guidance counselor at the Eric Smith Middle School, adding, “I would like to figure out some coping mechanisms to deal with these situations, and I would just like to put this on file so if something happens again, we can show that there was past bullying situations.”

That email was sent on Feb. 9, 2006. Three months later, the punch that brought him to his knees would cause a clot in a major artery that supplies blood to his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Now, Sawyer and his family will be paid $4.2 million to settle his claim against the district. The settlement does not include an admission of liability or fault on the part of the district, his lawyer said this week.

-more-

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Bullying_suit_settled_for_42_million.html?c=y&page=1

BTW, read the Comments under the story.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/18/nj-bullys-paralyzing-punc_n_1435176.html?ref=college&ir=College

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/19/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-injured-idUS175110724220120419

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/19/11289813-42-million-settlement-for-student-paralyzed-by-bully?lite

Press Release by Ramsey Board of Education
https://www.facebook.com/notes/ramsey-new-jersey/ramsey-public-schools-april-19-2012-press-release/408212669196989