Legal Question in Education Law in Massachusetts

Can we sue for emotional harm?

My son has an offical diagnosis of Asperger's, is on an IEP and was kicked out of the public school system based on a residency technicality. We believe this was in retaliation for asking for an out of district, placement and for complaint against his teacher. Both of these issues are currently being investigated by the DOE in our state and also by the OCR as we have lodged an official complaint. Both offices have asked us what we want the outcome to be of our complaint . Besides stopping people who discriminate and retaliate can we ask for damages to be awarded for their wrong doing? Can we sue for emotional harm?


Asked on 11/02/07, 10:27 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Tom Flynn Law Offices of Thomas V. Flynn

Re: Can we sue for emotional harm?

If your child should have been receiving services in that district than DOE or OCR can reinstate him and compensate for any lost education time - for example they can mandate that your son receive additional services at the expense of the school district. It would be extremely rare for OCR to award "damages" in the traditional sense.

If you want damages based on a retaliation claim you would need to file a complaint in court.

You should also check the status of the investigations. From your submission I cannot tell the timing of events, but in general if DOE is in an active investigation, OCR will not investigate, they will wait for the state results. Also, if you decide to file a complaint in court, OCR will stop their investigation.

If you decide to go the court route, talk to an attorney about timing. Sometimes it is better to allow OCR to collect substanital information from the district and then through a Freedom of Information Act request get the information from OCR before filing your complaint.

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Answered on 11/06/07, 8:14 am


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