SANTA ANA, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A California school district might be held liable for the stabbing of a student at a high school well after her evening track practice had concluded.
The June 28 decision by the Fourth Appellate District overturns summary judgment entered by the trial court for Huntington Beach Union High School District, which argued it owed no duty to plaintiff C. Achay so late in the day.
Achay’s track practice concluded early on March 29, 2018, so she and a friend walked to Starbucks and returned to Edison High School approximately 45 minutes later to retrieve books from her locker.
A former student on rollerblades taunted them as they returned to the school. He later stabbed her from behind while on rollerblades as she walked from the girls’ locker room to the school parking lot, causing serious injuries to her colon that required two surgeries.
Despite the lower court finding Achay was no longer on campus during school hours for a school-related activity, the Fourth District found otherwise – “Achay’s brief departure from school is a red herring,” the decision says.
The decision noted a swimming practice was still going on at the school.
“Indeed, there was evidence Achay’s track practice ended early on the day of the stabbing (about 4:30 p.m.), and the girls’ locker room was routinely left open after track practice (until about 6:00 p.m.),” the decision says.
“Therefore, we find it reasonably foreseeable—if not predictable—that a student would leave campus for a brief respite after her practice ended early, return to an open locker room on campus to pick up her schoolbooks, and then walk to the school’s parking lot to be picked up when the stabbing occurred (about 6:00 p.m.).”
The decision also overturned a finding that security on campus would have helped prevent the stabbing. That issue can be weighed by a jury, it says.
“The school’s policy allowed members of the public onto school grounds after 2:30 p.m., as if it were a public park, even though apparently hundreds of students were routinely still on campus participating in after school sports functions,” the decision says.