Attorney Michael Papuc represents Students in Actions against School Districts

San Francisco Attorney Michael Papuc represents students in injury cases against School Districts

Attorney Michael Papuc represented a first grade special education student who was digitally molested in the school yard of a public school, by a student in her special education class, and was held back by other students in her class. The molestation occurred in the school yard during lunch, in an area away from the general population of students, under an outside stair case. Mr. Papuc claimed the school district was at fault for failure to monitor the area where the molestation occurred, and failure to provide a safe learning environment. Before the molestation incident, the girl who was harmed had been the subject of choking and other physical harm in the special education classroom. There were also kissing incidents in the classroom, discussions of sex in the classroom, attempts by boys in the class to force the girl into a bathroom stall, an incident in the class where a boy took out his penis to show the girl who was molested.

The case settled after the girl underwent an examination by a psychiatrist chosen by the school district. The school district attempted to place blame on molestation on an adult in the girl’s family. The school district’s child psychiatrist admitted that the type of molestation the girl was subjected to was child-on-child.

In these types of cases, police need to be notified as soon as the incident occurs, the child needs to be examined by CASARC (Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse Resource Center) or similar agency, the child’s attorney will need to get as many witness statements as possible. The school nurse’s records are also very important. The attorney will need to retain appropriate experts, including school district standard of care expert, psychiatrist, neuro psychologist and pyschologist, to conduct appropriate testing of the child, and damages expert.