ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Legal Newsline) – Teachers can’t use a federal law to protect themselves from certain lawsuits, Maryland’s highest court has ruled.
An Aug. 6 decision by the state Court of Appeals found the Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001 didn’t preempt negligence claims made by the parents of a student who was bullied in Dorchester County.
In Maryland, school employees can be sued for negligent acts or omissions as long as their board of education is joined as a party and indemnifies them for any money judgment entered against them.
The teachers at issue tried to defeat the lawsuit by arguing the Coverdell Act, which offers protection from liability for negligent acts or omissions, preempted Maryland law. But the Court of Appeals found the state law fits within exceptions listed in the Coverdell Act.
“Starting with the plain language of the Act, we note that there is nothing in the text of the Act to indicate that teachers are immune from suit,” the ruling says. “Rather, the Act is couched in terms of a teacher’s liability and liability protection.
“Liability for damages and immunity from suit, of course, are distinct legal concepts. We determine that under the plain language of the Coverdell Act, it does not provide teachers with immunity from suit. Rather, it provides teachers with protection from being liable for money damages for the harm they cause through negligent acts.”
The case involved the bullying of a sixth-grader in 2016-17 at Mace’s Lane Middle School. Multiple reports did nothing to stop the assaults of the student, and the school initially refused to move the student’s locker when her parents requested it.
Their lawsuit blames employees at the school who said they would handle the situation but failed to.
The Court of Special Appeals had ruled the Coverdell Act protected the teachers from suit, but the higher court found it failed to recognize exceptions in subsection (b). The exception is for “state law that makes the school or governmental entity liable for the acts or omissions of its teachers to the same extent as an employer is liable for the acts or omissions of its employees.”