School Child Abuse ADA Suit Can’t Seek Emotional Distress Relief

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t provide for emotional distress damages, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Wednesday. But that didn’t mean a lower court had to dismiss the claims of elementary school students without considering if any relief was available, it said.

Elementary school principal Christi Hildebrand took a two-day unpaid suspension after a superintendent said she didn’t timely report abuse allegations against a teacher assigned to a special education classroom, according to the opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. A paraprofessional said she observed a teacher being physically and verbally abusive towards ...