SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Legal Newsline) – A Missouri teacher is forced to fight the lawsuit brought by a student he wouldn’t allow to go to the bathroom, which resulted in the student wetting himself in class.
The Missouri Court of Appeals on Oct. 26 ruled against teacher John Garagnani, who teaches in the Camdenton High School. Garagnani and the school district both asserted defenses of immunity when sued by the unnamed high-schooler and both were victorious in the trial court.
But the appeals court ruled Garagnani did not prove he was entitled to official immunity, even though it affirmed the judgment in favor of the school district.
Unlike the sovereign immunity relied on by the district, Garagnani had the burden to prove he was entitled to official immunity. According to the appellate ruling, the district’s defense offered no facts in support of Garagnani.
Garagnani’s argument he was protected by the public-duty doctrine did not convince the appellate court either.
“Its protections are subject to exceptions, including actions taken in bad faith or with malice, or ‘when injury to a particular, identifiable individual is reasonably foreseeable as a result of a public employee’s breach of duty,’ with liability in the latter situation dependent on the facts of each case,” Judge Daniel Scott wrote.
“Here, as with official immunity, Teacher does not prove a right to judgment… A bare assertion that the public-duty doctrine applies, without… factual support, does not satisfy Teacher’s burden to make the prima facie showing required by (precedent).”