# Danbury faces lawsuit for waking sleeping student



## Kacey (Mar 14, 2008)

Danbury faces lawsuit for waking sleeping student



> Attorney Alan Barry has notified Danbury school officials he intends to sue them for injuries sustained by his client, 15-year-old Vinicios Robacher, that were allegedly caused by the teacher who woke him up.
> Robacher suffered pain and "very severe injuries to his left eardrum" when teacher Melissa Nadeau abruptly slammed the palm of her hand on his desk on Dec. 4, Barry said.



So... now what?  Should I now let sleeping students sleep?  I can't touch them - so a gentle shake of the shoulder is out.  I can't yell at them - might hurt their sensitive psyches - so I can't wake a sleeping student with a loud comment.  I can't make loud noises in their vicinities - might hurt their hearing - so sudden sharp noises intended to wake them are out.  And heaven forbid I reduce their grade for being inattentive in class...


----------



## MJS (Mar 14, 2008)

Kacey said:


> Danbury faces lawsuit for waking sleeping student
> 
> 
> 
> So... now what? Should I now let sleeping students sleep? I can't touch them - so a gentle shake of the shoulder is out. I can't yell at them - might hurt their sensitive psyches - so I can't wake a sleeping student with a loud comment. I can't make loud noises in their vicinities - might hurt their hearing - so sudden sharp noises intended to wake them are out. And heaven forbid I reduce their grade for being inattentive in class...


 
I find it hard to believe that this kid suffered such great hearing loss from a simple hand on the desk.  This made me laugh:



> "Many of us have fallen asleep in class and had the teacher wake us up. But what happened here was more in the nature of an assault and battery," he said. "My client is an extraordinarily bright young man. He's a computer wizard who works late into the night, and that's probably why he fell asleep."


 
Assault and battery????  
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/battery
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assault

Well I'm no lawyer, but looking at those links, I don't feel that either one constitute what the lawyer is saying.  I also find it funny when he said he's a computer wizard and works late into the night.  He makes it sound as if this kid is some 6 figure computer guru working for Bill Gates.  What is he working on?  Homework?  Was he playing computer games?  Why arent this kids parents making sure he gets his school work done and into bed in a timely fashion?  

Could the teacher have used another method?  Probably, but I can just imagine if she shook him.  He'd probably claim that he has a post traumatic stress disorder, and freaks out if anyone places a hand on him. 

Sounds to me like the kid and his parents are looking for a quick buck.  Maybe instead, they should make sure that their child gets the proper sleep so he can focus on his school work.


----------



## Carol (Mar 14, 2008)

He's a computer wizard that works late in to the night?  

I'll have to brush up on my knowledge of CT's child labor laws but I do not believe that such a condition is legal for a 15 year old minor child.  Whether or not the minor child chooses to work those hours is irrelevant.


----------



## terryl965 (Mar 14, 2008)

Yea this is why I quite being a Teacher everybody and there mommy are sue happy, the problem is he will win something and it will just sit another bad example for others to follow.


----------



## tshadowchaser (Mar 14, 2008)

I doubt that the injury can be directly related to the teacher slamming his hand down on a desk.
Maybe the teacher should have just given a pop quiz and let the student sleep through it and get an F on it


----------



## Makalakumu (Mar 14, 2008)

Computer Wizard my ***.  Kid is probably trying to find a date on WOW.

Seriously, when are we going to just start letting kids who don't want to be in school, make that choice.  I see so many kids everyday who are completely disconnected from the system that they just don't care anymore.  

If you really cared about a class, you wouldn't be falling asleep.


----------



## Ceicei (Mar 14, 2008)

upnorthkyosa said:


> Seriously, when are we going to just start letting kids who don't want to be in school, make that choice.  I see so many kids everyday who are completely disconnected from the system that they just don't care anymore.



What would the world be like if we actually had these kinds of choices, regardless of age?  I suppose a kid who decides to play rather than stay in school to study, could rue his decision in the future and return to school (GED) or whatever.

Let those reap the consequences?  Interesting thought.  Seems we don't let them face the results for their choices.

- Ceicei


----------



## Flying Crane (Mar 14, 2008)

upnorthkyosa said:


> Computer Wizard my ***. Kid is probably trying to find a date on WOW.


 
He's just surfing for internet porn.


----------



## stone_dragone (Mar 14, 2008)

Isn't that what it is for? The internet, i mean...


----------



## jks9199 (Mar 14, 2008)

Kacey said:


> Danbury faces lawsuit for waking sleeping student
> 
> 
> 
> So... now what?  Should I now let sleeping students sleep?  I can't touch them - so a gentle shake of the shoulder is out.  I can't yell at them - might hurt their sensitive psyches - so I can't wake a sleeping student with a loud comment.  I can't make loud noises in their vicinities - might hurt their hearing - so sudden sharp noises intended to wake them are out.  And heaven forbid I reduce their grade for being inattentive in class...


Maybe you should just tickle them with a feather duster?

Oh, wait... That would lead to all sorts of _other_ issues, huh...

I'll admit that I slept through more than one class in high school.  (In fact, in at least one instance I was only woken up because I was mumbling... and nobody could understand what I was saying.  Kind of worries me...  What'd I say the times they DIDN'T wake me up?)

But students shouldn't be permitted to sleep through classes.  And I can't believe that the teacher slapped the desk hard enough to do permanent harm...  I suspect that there probably was already some damage, maybe due to, ear phones...


----------



## shesulsa (Mar 14, 2008)

Too few details.

If the ear in question was an inch away or touching the desk and/or if he has extremely short Eustachian tubes putting the eardrum close to surface being slammed, and the surface being slammed conducts vibration well (wood, steel) and the teacher slammed it hard enough and close enough to his head, the vibration *could* even burst the ear drum - especially if the ear was actually resting on the surface.

And ... what kind of injuries?  Was he bleeding? Is the damage permanent? Did he suffer permanent hearing loss? What?

Too few details.


----------



## Carol (Mar 14, 2008)

jks9199 said:


> And I can't believe that the teacher slapped the desk hard enough to do permanent harm...  I suspect that there probably was already some damage, maybe due to, ear phones...



That's my guess.  Granted, it is compression waves from a sudden, abrupt, loud noise (such as a gunshot) that do the most damage to the eardrum.   I just can't see how a person's hand hitting a desk, even at close proximity, can generate enough pressure to damage the ear unless there was prior injury.


----------



## kidswarrior (Mar 15, 2008)

Carol Kaur said:


> He's a computer wizard that works late in to the night?
> 
> I'll have to brush up on my knowledge of CT's child labor laws but I do not believe that such a condition is legal for a 15 year old minor child.  Whether or not the minor child chooses to work those hours is irrelevant.


Good point. 

My thought was, if he's such a wizard, why aren't the parents homeschooling him while he works on his first $ million?  Or maybe, it's computer _games _at which he's a wizard. :rofl:



			
				terryl965 said:
			
		

> Yea this is why I quite being a Teacher everybody and there mommy are sue happy, the problem is he will win something and it will just sit another bad example for others to follow.


I know, Terry. I've watched teaching become a joke--a sick joke, played on educators, and to some extent, kids themselves. It's why I quit an adjunct professorship at a local university after almost five years. Just couldn't keep encouraging bright young adults who could be anything they chose, to enter a field that would most likely use them up and kick them to the curb in a decade or two. And it's why I'm getting out myself ASAP. May be possible in a couple years.


----------



## arnisador (Mar 15, 2008)

shesulsa said:


> Too few details.



I agree. He _could _have a legitimate complaint.

Yet...I can't help thinking about what would've happened if I had gone home to my father to complain that I was sleeping in class and the teacher had to bang on the desk so loudly to wake me up that it hurt my ear. Let's just say that "We'll hire a lawyer, son" isn't the first sentence that would have come out of my father's mouth.


----------



## grydth (Mar 15, 2008)

tshadowchaser said:


> I doubt that the injury can be directly related to the teacher slamming his hand down on a desk.
> Maybe the teacher should have just given a pop quiz and let the student sleep through it and get an F on it



In my high school if a snoozer was spotted, the teacher and students would finish, sneak out of the room and warn the incoming class. Some time later the guy would awaken surrounded by complete strangers in an unknown class.


----------



## shesulsa (Mar 15, 2008)

arnisador said:


> I agree. He _could _have a legitimate complaint.
> 
> Yet...I can't help thinking about what would've happened if I had gone home to my father to complain that I was sleeping in class and the teacher had to bang on the desk so loudly to wake me up that it hurt my ear. Let's just say that "We'll hire a lawyer, son" isn't the first sentence that would have come out of my father's mouth.


Agreed. I'd have been seeing the business end of ... the nearest somewhat sturdy yet swingable object.


----------



## Makalakumu (Mar 15, 2008)

shesulsa said:


> Agreed. I'd have been seeing the business end of ... the nearest somewhat sturdy yet swingable object.


 
My dad would have given me a size 12 attitude adjustment to my posterior...


----------



## MA-Caver (Mar 15, 2008)

To me, it's a lawyer and his client trying to make a few bucks on something stupid. Hopefully the judge will just toss it all out.


----------



## exile (Mar 15, 2008)

MA-Caver said:


> To me, it's a lawyer and his client trying to make a few bucks on something stupid. Hopefully the judge will just toss it all out.



This raises a point that occurs to me a lot when I see these 'horror story' stories about some hare-brained/greedo lawsuit someone has launched because of something _s/he_ did to bugger things up. We frequently mutter darkly about how degenerate and corrupt our culture has become and so on, but do we actually know what the _success rate_ of these kinds of suits is? In what percentage of cases the presiding judge does just thattosses the suit and says harsh things to the plaintiffs? That seems critical to me: there are always going to be scam artists around, probably quite a small % of the poplulation; the problem is not what they try to do, but how often they succeed. This isn't a rhetorical point, really; it's a real questiondoes anyone have a sense of how often such lawsuits yield $$ for the plaintiff? Grydthany observations about this question? Anyone else?


----------



## kidswarrior (Mar 15, 2008)

exile said:


> This raises a point that occurs to me a lot when I see these 'horror story' stories about some hare-brained/greedo lawsuit someone has launched because of something _s/he_ did to bugger things up. We frequently mutter darkly about how degenerate and corrupt our culture has become and so on, but do we actually know what the _success rate_ of these kinds of suits is? In what percentage of cases the presiding judge does just thattosses the suit and says harsh things to the plaintiffs? That seems critical to me: there are always going to be scam artists around, probably quite a small % of the poplulation; the problem is not what they try to do, but how often they succeed. This isn't a rhetorical point, really; it's a real questiondoes anyone have a sense of how often such lawsuits yield $$ for the plaintiff? Grydthany observations about this question? Anyone else?


My understanding (from the trenches) is the district usually settles for about $10-15K, just to avoid the bad press.


----------



## MJS (Mar 15, 2008)

exile said:


> This raises a point that occurs to me a lot when I see these 'horror story' stories about some hare-brained/greedo lawsuit someone has launched because of something _s/he_ did to bugger things up. We frequently mutter darkly about how degenerate and corrupt our culture has become and so on, but do we actually know what the _success rate_ of these kinds of suits is? In what percentage of cases the presiding judge does just thattosses the suit and says harsh things to the plaintiffs? That seems critical to me: there are always going to be scam artists around, probably quite a small % of the poplulation; the problem is not what they try to do, but how often they succeed. This isn't a rhetorical point, really; it's a real questiondoes anyone have a sense of how often such lawsuits yield $$ for the plaintiff? Grydthany observations about this question? Anyone else?


 
If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that there are most settlements than cases getting tossed out, which is sad IMHO.  I mean, I"m no doctor, but I find it VERY hard to believe that this kid has permanent hearing loss because of this.  The kid would stand a better chance of hearing loss by sitting in the front row at a rock concert, as far as I'm concerned.  

Of course, you always have to love how people are so quick to sue and blame someone else.  This kid falls asleep in class, the teacher wakes him, and theres a law suit??  Talk about a screwed up world.


----------



## MJS (Mar 15, 2008)

kidswarrior said:


> My understanding (from the trenches) is the district usually settles for about $10-15K, just to avoid the bad press.


 
Whats sad, is the message that this sends.  People are worried about bad press.  Well, by awarding money, it says that its ok to screw off in class, because if anything happens to you, you can just sue.  I don't know whats worse..the bad press or the message from the suit.


----------



## little_miss_fracus (Mar 15, 2008)

I never fall asleep in class, i can't, too much talking. I mean i've seen people do it it's just that i can't do it.  Pretty stupid to miss the class, i get most of what i need from what the teachers say. The books don't make a lot of sense to me so i dont read them unless i have to.


----------

