$________ VS. DEFENDANT COUNTY $________ Judgment against individual assailant following proof hearing – Negligent security/supervision – Plaintiff attempts to intervene when he sees individual defendant bullying other student and is then dropped on his head by individual defendant – Skull fracture – Brain bleed – Inability to work.

Somerset County, NJ

The plaintiff, a student at the defendant Somerset County Emergency Services Training Academy, contended that the defendant negligently failed to follow its own prior practice of stationing a representative in the parking lot. The plaintiff asserted that because of the failure to do so, he saw a bullying incident in which another student was placed in a headlock. When the plaintiff intervened, the bully placed the plaintiff in a headlock and then dropped him on his head. The plaintiff suffered a skull fracture and a brain bleed and was left with very significant cognitive deficits involving memory and concentration. The plaintiff also named the bully as a defendant.

The plaintiff’ asserted that there was a history of prior bullying incidents in the parking lot. The plaintiff established that the county usually stationed a representative in the parking lot and the plaintiff’s liability expert, the former head of a fire academy, would have testified that such an individual should be used. The plaintiff would have argued that if a representative had been so stationed, the bullying incident involving the other student would not have occurred, and the incident which occurred when the plaintiff intervened would not have happened.

The defendant county denied that there was a history of criminal incidents at the school and the defendant’s security expert would have denied that the representative was needed. The defendants also would have maintained that the plaintiff was a willing participant in horseplay.

The plaintiff would have related that he planned on becoming a police officer. The plaintiff contended that he is permanently unemployable and the plaintiff would have introduced evidence of future lost wages that approximated $________.The case against the county settled prior to trial for $________. The plaintiff was then awarded $________ by the court in a proof hearing against the bully.