Conley v. Doe

2001 Mass. Super. LEXIS 490 (2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P is a sixth-grade teacher. D was a sixth-grade student in her English class and homeroom last school year. In study hall on January 12th, she saw D writing on a piece of paper with a black marker and observed that he had written the words, 'People I Want to Kill,' across the top of the paper. No names had been written on the paper. P confiscated the paper and brought D to the school office, informing school authorities of what she had found. On January 17th, P learned that school authorities had discovered on January 12th a second piece of paper that had been written by D and that also was entitled, 'People I Want to Kill,' but this paper included the names of nine people, including P. This second piece of paper was written less neatly than the piece of paper that P had found. P inferred that D was either re-writing this first piece of paper onto a new page when she discovered him in study hall or was seeking to add more names to the list since he had run out of room on the second piece of paper. After learning of the second piece, P left the school building and is 'deathly afraid' of returning. On January 19th school officials told D's parents that D could not return to school until, among other things, he had completed a psychological evaluation. The parents provided the evaluation that same night at a school dance. The school allowed D to attend the school dance that evening. P contends that evaluation was not genuine as it was produced in too short a time. P alleges that the school failed to take any meaningful disciplinary action because of threat by D's parents. P sued Ds alleging: Intentional infliction of emotional distress against all Ds; Assault against D; Negligence against D; Negligence against D's parents; and Civil conspiracy. Ds moved to dismiss.