Parents Lose Suit Trying to Hold School Liable for Son’s Suicide

A civil rights suit by parents who claimed that their son committed suicide after high school administrators imposed discriminatory discipline on him because of his gender identity was properly dismissed, the Sixth Circuit said.

Calling Will Bannister’s death tragic, the court insinuated that bad lawyering partially caused the dismissal.

This case “highlights the risks for counsel who do not develop a coherent legal theory at the outset of their case and who instead continuously adopt new arguments when problems emerge with their old ones,” the opinion by Judge Eric E. Murphy said. “That approach not only delays the case’s outcome ...