In Nevada, students can bring lawsuits for teacher misconduct when the student is harmed because of their negligence or an intentional wrongful act such as sexual harassment or physical abuse.
Schools and school districts are generally not liable for the intentional wrongful acts of teachers. However, schools may be liable for negligent hiring, retaining, training or supervision.
Schools are also liable under Nevada’s doctrine of respondeat superior for negligence committed within the normal scope of the teacher’s employment.
Example: The principal of Dileep’s school buys the science instructor chemicals to burn in a classroom demonstration but does not offer training. When the instructor burns methanol to create a “green-flamed fire tornado,” Dileep is burned.
The instructor was negligent. Because demonstrating science is the instructor’s job, the school district is vicariously liable. The school is also negligent for not training the instructor.
To help you better understand when you a student or parents can bring a lawsuit for teacher misconduct, our Nevada personal injury lawyers discuss, below:
- 1. Teacher Misconduct
- 2. Teacher Negligence
- 3. Duty of Care
- 4. Intentional Wrongful Acts
- 5. Suing Schools
- 6. Damages
- 7. Settlements
- Additional Reading
1. Teacher Misconduct
Teacher misconduct in Nevada consists of two types of wrongful actions:
- Negligence, or
- Intentional wrongful conduct.
Common grounds for a teacher negligence lawsuit schools include:
- Inadequate supervision on the playground,
- Slip-and-fall injuries due to poorly maintained classrooms,
- Failure to summon medical help for a student, when needed, or
- Failure to promptly break up fights between students.
Common intentionally wrongful acts of instructors include:
- Sexual assault or harassment,
- Physical abuse, or
- Discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
2. Teacher Negligence
In Nevada, a teacher is negligent when:
- They owe a duty of care to a student;
- They breach that duty;
- The breach is the legal cause of the student’s injuries; and
- Because of those injuries, the student suffers damages.1
The standard of care a teacher will be held to is that degree of care that an ordinarily careful and prudent teacher would exercise under the same or similar circumstances.2
An educator is also liable for negligence per se if they violate a law meant to protect students or members of the public generally. For instance:
NRS 392.4633 makes it unlawful to administer corporal punishment upon a pupil in any public school. So a Clark County School District instructor who uses corporal punishment against a student would automatically be liable for any damages sustained by the student as a result.
Corporal punishment is unlawful by Nevada public school teachers.
3. Duty of Care
Educators have a legal duty under Nevada law to protect their students. This duty of care toward students arises under the legal doctrine of in loco parentis. In loco parentis is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place of the parents.”3
For example, teachers have the duty to:
- Anticipate foreseeable dangers to students and take steps to minimize those dangers;
- Supervise students;
- Ensure student safety; and
- Obey all laws, including those respecting minor children.
If an educator fails to do any of these things and, as a result, a student is injured, they are liable for the damages.4
Example: Billy complains of a headache and nausea while playing baseball on a hot day at his school. The coach does nothing until Billy passes out in class an hour later. By then, Billy has suffered a brain injury from heatstroke. The injury could have been prevented had the coach taken simple steps to cool Billy down (such as getting him indoors and misting him with cool water).5
4. Intentional Wrongful Acts
Most headline-making cases of teacher misconduct in Nevada occur when a teacher is accused of intentionally harming a student or violating a student’s rights.
Some common intentional torts against students include:
- Assaulting a student,
- Abusing a student,
- Sexual assaulting or harassing a student,
- Forcibly detaining a student (false imprisonment),
- Lying about a student (defamation),
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress,
- Title IX discrimination against a student based on a disability, gender or gender identity, or
- Violation of a student’s constitutional rights, including:
- Free speech,
- Free exercise of religion, and
- Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Example: Cara is a special needs student who is prone to temper tantrums. When she still refuses to get in line, her instructor grabs her by the arms and forces her into the line, where he continues to yell at her to keep moving.
A Clark County jury finds the instructor liable for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment. He is ordered to pay damages to Cara for her emotional distress and pain and suffering.
Sexual Harassment
Schools that receive federal funding of any kind, whether they are public or private, are subject to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX prohibits any form of sexual harassment or discrimination based on:
- gender,
- gender identity or
- sexual orientation.
Additionally, Nevada law makes sexual harassment at schools a violation of both law and public policy.6 Nevada Administrative Code 284.0995 defines sexual harassment as:
- unwelcome sexual advances,
- requests for sexual favors, or
- other speech or physical conduct of a sexual nature.
Students can report sexual harassment or other discrimination by teachers to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. They also have the right to sue the educators for damages.
5. Suing Schools
A Nevada school district is ordinarily not liable for:
- Negligence committed by educators in their off-hours, or
- Intentional torts committed by educators.
However, a school district may have joint and several (shared) liability for teacher misconduct when:
- The school district negligently hired, retained or trained the teacher, or
- The teacher’s negligence occurred while they were carrying out their official duties as a teacher.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these situations.
Vicarious Liability
A school district in Nevada is indirectly (vicariously) liable for the wrongful acts or omissions of its educators when:
- The educator is acting within the ordinary scope of their employment, and
- As the result of the educator’s wrongful actions, a student is injured.
Example: During swim practice, Albert tells his P.E. coach he is dizzy and light-headed. Not realizing how ill he is, the coach tells Albert to “suck it up.” Soon Albert nearly drowns and is permanently disabled. If the coach is found negligent, the school district can be held liable because supervising the school’s swim team falls within the scope of his employment, and drowning is an inherent risk of swimming.
Negligent Hiring, Retention or Supervision
Normally, a school district is not responsible for intentional wrongs committed by educators. This is because intentional torts do not fall within an educator’s ordinary scope of employment.
Example: Josephine accuses her instructor of fondling her breasts. If the instructor is found guilty, the school district would not normally be liable, because fondling children does not fall within the ordinary scope of an instructor’s employment.
However, a school district may be directly liable for a teacher’s intentional wrongs when it was negligent in hiring, retaining or supervising them. This “respondeat superior” law applies when either:
- The school failed to conduct a reasonable background check to ensure that the teacher was fit for the position,
- The school hired the teacher even though it knew, or should have known, that they had dangerous propensities,
- The school retained a teacher after it learned they were dangerous, or
- The school failed adequately to supervise, train or discipline the teacher in duties that could potentially harm students.
Example: Let’s say that in the above example, the school district had already received several complaints of inappropriate touching of students by Josephine’s instructor. The school district was on notice that the instructor was potentially dangerous to children. By retaining the instructor and not taking steps to prevent future harm (such as requiring an aide to be present with the instructor at all times), the district may be liable for the fondling.
Most lawsuits settle out of court.
6. Damages
If your child was injured by teacher misconduct in Nevada, they may be entitled to compensation for:
- Medical bills,
- Physical rehabilitation,
- Pain and suffering, and
- Emotional distress.
In cases of serious intentional acts, your child may even be entitled to punitive damages for teacher misconduct in Nevada.
7. Settlements
If your child is under the age of 18, you are legally permitted to settle (compromise) their claim out-of-court. However, the settlement must be approved by the district court before it is legally binding.
For more information on how to do this, please see our article on Compromise of a Minor’s Claim in Nevada.
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to the following:
- Overcoming Legal Liability Concerns for School-Based Physical Activity Promotion – American Journal of Public Health.
- Culture Loss and Crumbling Skulls: The Problematic of Injury in Residential School Litigation – PoLAR.
- Legal Liability: The Consequences of School Injury – Journal of School Health.
- Preventing School Injuries – Rutgers University Press.
- Negligent liability lawsuits and public school personnel: Breach of duty and defense – Spalding University Dissertation.
Legal references:
- Turner v. Mandaly Sports Entm’t, LLC, 124 Nev. 213, 180 P.3d 1172 (2008); Scialabba v. Brandise Construction Co., 921 P.2d 928 (1996); Perez v. Las Vegas Med. Ctr., 107 Nev. 1, 4, 805 P.2d 589 (1991); Nevada Jury Instructions 4.02.
- NEV. J.I. 4.03; BAJI 3.10.
- NRS 289.190.
- NEV. J.I. 4.04 BAJI: 3.75.
- See, e.g., Mayo Clinic – Heatstroke.
- NAC 284.771.