K.W. v. Lee County School Board

67 F. Supp. 3d 1330, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171437, 2014 WL 7014532
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedDecember 11, 2014
DocketCase No. 2:14-cv-258-FtM-29CM
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 67 F. Supp. 3d 1330 (K.W. v. Lee County School Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
K.W. v. Lee County School Board, 67 F. Supp. 3d 1330, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171437, 2014 WL 7014532 (M.D. Fla. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JOHN E. STEELE, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on review of defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs First Amended Complaint (Doc. # 24) filed on July 25, 2014. Plaintiff filed a Memorandum of Law in Opposition to the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the First Amended Complaint (Doc. # 27) on August 15, 2014. For the reason set forth below, the motion is granted.

I.

On May 13, 2014, plaintiff K.W., as parent and guardian of J.W., a minor, initiated this action by filing an eight-count complaint against the Lee' County School Board, Kirk Swope, Sue Patti, and Dianne Piercy. (Doc. # 1.) Plaintiff is now relying on her First Amended Complaint (Doc. # 20), which alleges as follows:

In 2012, J.W., an eight year-old female, attended the second grade at Allen Park Elementary School (Allen Park) in Fort Myers, Florida. (Doc. # 20, ¶ 12.) J.W. suffers from permanent medical disabilities and has ongoing pulmonary and respiratory problems. (Id. ¶ 13.) J.W.’s medical condition requires ongoing treatment, including the use of prescription medications and a breathing machine. The medications cause significant weight gain and pulmonary and respiratory sensitivities. At the time of the alleged incident, J.W. weighed 172 pounds and suffered from lung disease and emphysema. (Id. ¶ 14.)

On May 11, 2012, J.W. sustained an injury to her left foot while walking from her lunch period to her instructional period. (Id. ¶ 17.) J.W. informed her teacher, Kirk Swope (Swope), that she was in a lot of pain and was unable to walk without significant trauma. (Id. ¶ 18.) Swope, however, did not contact the school nurse or provide any assistance and when another student attempted to assist J.W., he verbally mocked her. (Id. ¶¶ 18-19.) J.W. continued to complain of her pain, but Swope continued to mock her by telling her that he was trying to call the school clinic even though no such attempt was ■made. (Id. ¶ 21.) Swope then sent J.W. to her physical education class. (Id. ¶ 22.)

When J.W. arrived at her physical education class, she informed Dianne Piercy (Piercy) that she was in significant pain and could not put any weight on her foot. Piercy did not inspect J.W.’s foot or send her to the school nurse and demanded that J.W. participate in class. (Id. ¶ 23.) J.W. refused to participate and was subsequently written up for having a behavioral problem. Piercy then sent J.W. across the building, without assistance, to see Sue Patti (Patti), the counselor at Allen Park. (Id.) J.W. told Patti about her injury and stated that she was in excruciating pain. Patti did nothing to assist J.W. and did not contact the school nurse or J.W.’s mother. [1334]*1334J.W. received a disciplinary note from Patti and was sent back to class without any assistance. (Id. ¶ 24.)

By the time the school day ended, the pain in J.W.’s foot was so severe that she collapsed as she walking to the parent pick-up line. After she collapsed, some of the other children pointed at her and said “look at the fat girl on the ground.” (Id. ¶ 26.) When K.W. arrived to pick J.W. up from school, she was told that there were no more children for pick-up. K.W. frantically rushed to the front of the school and was told that J.W. had collapsed in the hallway. (Id.' ¶¶ 28-29.) After J.W. told her mother about the excruciating pain in her foot, K.W. attempted to take off J.W.’s shoe, but struggled because J.W.’s foot was swollen to almost twice its normal size. (/(¿¶30.) K.W. immediately rushed J.W. to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with a fracture on the fifth metatarsal bone of her left foot. (Id. ¶¶ 31-32.)

J.W. returned to school on May 14, 2012, in a cast and on crutches, with a physician’s note indicating that she was not supposed to participate in physical education because doing so could exacerbate her injuries. (Id. ¶ 34.) The staff at Allen Park told J.W. that she could not use crutches without a doctor’s note. K.W. presented the release sheet from the emergency room, which indicated that the hospital provided the crutches. (Id. ¶ 35.) Allen Park refused to accept the emergency room release and forced K.W. to return to the hospital in order to secure a doctor’s note authorizing J.W.’s use of crutches. (Id.)

Despite the instruction to limit J.W.’s physical activity and the presence of a cast, Swope and other employees at Allen Park forced J.W. to attend physical education class on May 16, 2012. Piercy even wrote J.W. up in a disciplinary note for not participating in physical education. (Id. ¶ 36.) Shortly thereafter, K.W. contacted the assistant principal at Allen Park as well as other members of the Lee County School Board to complain of the outrageous treatment of J.W. by the employees at Allen Park. Despite her complaints, neither the school officials nor the School Board investigated the incident or took any disciplinary action. (Id. ¶ 37.)

J.W. spent most of the summer recovering from her injury and when she returned to Allen Park in August 2012, the school officials continued to harass her. She was severely disciplined for non-violent and non-destructive behavior that was typical of a child her age and school officials frequently contacted K.W. during work hours to complain of the behavior. (Id. ¶¶ 38-40.)

As a result of the incidents at Allen Park, plaintiff initiated this action against defendants. Plaintiffs First Amended Complaint sets forth six counts based on federal law (Counts I-VI) and two counts based on Florida law (Counts VII & VIII). Counts I through III assert the following official policy and custom claims against the School Board under 42 U.S.C. § 1983: (I) failure to train, (II) deliberate indifference, and (III) failure to investigate and discipline misconduct. Plaintiff also asserts three § 1983 against the individual defendants: (IV) deliberate indifference against Swope, Patti, and Piercy, (V) equal protection (class-of-one) against Swope and Patti (Count V), and (VI) substantive due process against Swope, Patti, and Piercy. Finally, plaintiff asserts two state law claims: (VII) negligent supervision against the School Board and (VIII) intentional infliction of emotional distress against Swope (Count VIII).

II.

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), a Complaint must contain a “short [1335]*1335and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). This obligation “requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955,167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (citation omitted). To survive dismissal, the factual allegations must be “plausible” and “must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Id. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. See also Edwards v. Prime Inc., 602 F.3d 1276, 1291 (11th Cir.2010).

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Bluebook (online)
67 F. Supp. 3d 1330, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171437, 2014 WL 7014532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kw-v-lee-county-school-board-flmd-2014.