JACKSON, Tenn. (Legal Newsline) – A teacher assistant who tried to show students how to perform the shot put but instead hit one of them in the head has cost his school district $200,000.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals on Jan. 15 affirmed a judge’s ruling against the Shelby County Board of Education, which was sued after a demonstration-gone-wrong resulted in a shot hitting student Kenji Lewis in the side of the head.
The accident happened in 2016, when Lewis was a sixth-grader at Geeter Middle School in Memphis. Marcus Mosby was showing the 30 to 40 students participating in track and field tryouts how to throw a shot.
Mosby stood 25 feet away from the students as they threw. He decided to show how to properly throw by hurling one back to them.
He stood 30 to 40 feet away and intended for the metal ball to land short of the students but Lewis did not stand as far away as other students.
“Upon Mr. Mosby releasing the shot put, he immediately realized it was going to strike Kenji,” the ruling says. “He yelled for Kenji to move, but before Kenji could move, the shot put struck Kenji on the side of his head, causing him to fall to the ground.”
Mosby felt an indentation in the side of Lewis’ head and saw blood coming from his mouth. Lewis spent three days in the hospital on morphine and oxycodone for his depressed skull fracture. Later scans showed evidence of brain damage.
“Throughout the second night, Kenji remained restless, he would cry out after having nightmares of the incident, and he remained in varying levels of pain,” the decision says.
Nightmares and pain continued, then headaches and dizziness from the brain damage.
A Shelby County judge awarded Lewis and his mother $200,000 in compensatory damages, a verdict appealed by both sides. The school district raised six errors on appeal, while the plaintiffs said $200,000 was too low.
The ruling says Lewis was not comparatively negligent for the accident.
“Kenji was unfamiliar with the risk and safety procedures for the shot put exercise,” the ruling says. “Kenji’s success and knowledge in other sports did not equip him with an understanding of or familiarity with shot put.
“Although he is a bright child and a successful student, taken together, the facts show that he did not have the capacity for negligence.”
The court also found the amount of the verdict was properly decided.
“As to loss of enjoyment of life, the trial court noted that Kenji continued to receive good grades after the incident and has returned to an otherwise normal routine,” the ruling says.
“The court considered his temporary loss of enjoyment of life in the initial months following the accident, but noted that Kenji has resumed all activities, including football.”