Background
Faith Elsharkawy sued the Chisago Lakes School District and several staff members following the suicide of her son, J.L.E., a freshman with disabilities. She alleged violations of the Rehabilitation Act of nineteen seventy-three, the Americans with Disabilities Act of nineteen ninety, and Minnesota’s wrongful death statute. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants, and Elsharkawy appealed.
The court’s reasoning
The Eighth Circuit reviewed the summary judgment de novo. Under the Rehabilitation Act and ADA, the plaintiff must prove deliberate indifference. The court found the district responded to all reported bullying incidents and that the record did not support a finding that the district ignored the student’s IEP accommodations or punished him for his disability. Regarding the wrongful death claim, the court applied Minnesota law requiring a special relationship and foreseeable risk. The court concluded the district could not have reasonably foreseen the suicide given the lack of specific notice and the passage of time since the last reported incident.
Based on the record, a rational trier of fact could not conclude that Appellees could have reasonably foreseen that J.L.E. was at risk of committing suicide.
Opinion at page eighteen
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces the high bar for proving deliberate indifference in school disability discrimination cases and limits school liability for student suicides where specific, actionable threats were not known to the district.