Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida
John is a pupil at Estero Middle School. Dave is the principal of the school. For several weeks John has been subject to severe bullying from Phil, a fellow pupil. Dave is aware that the bullying is taking place but takes no steps to stop or punish Phil. Phil continues the bullying. Eventually, John can take no more and swallows some bleach in an attempt to kill himself. Janet discovers John foaming at the mouth and goes into shock. Sammy rings for an ambulance. The ambulance takes one hour to arrive when the normal response time would be twenty-five minutes. By the time Ace Ambulance arrives John is dead. It is determined that had Ace arrived twenty-five minutes after Sam�s call, John would probably have died anyway but there was a 20% chance that with proper treatment he would have pulled through. Janet now suffers from severe depression.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You don't define the parties and their relationships and what claims you are asking about. Janet without a physical injury, unless she is related to John, likely has no claims against anyone. John's parents likely have a claim against the school system but the claim is limited by statutory limits. The delay in ambulance help may make the company responsible as well for the death, but that would have likely required an autopsy to verify that John could have been saved. The family of Phil the bully may also be responsible for negligence in the death if they knew about the bullying and did nothing to stop it. Seek legal guidance with all the actual facts.
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