Keel v. Hainline

331 P.2d 397 (1958)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

Some thirty-five to forty students attending the Woodrow Wilson Junior High School went to a classroom for instruction in music. The instructor did not make an appearance until some thirty or forty minutes later. The male students indulged in throwing wooden blackboard erasers, chalk, cardboard drum covers, and, in one instance, a 'coke' bottle, at each other. Two or three of the defendants went to the north end of the classroom and the remaining defendants went to the south end of the room. From vantage points behind the blackboard on the north end and the piano on the south end, they threw the erasers and chalk back and forth at one another. This occurred for some 30 minutes and terminated only when an eraser, thrown by Jennings (D), struck Burge (P) in the eye, shattering her eyeglasses, and resulting in the loss of the use of such eye. P had been sitting in the center of the room engaged in studying her lessons when she was struck by the eraser. She had not been participating in the 'horseplay' in any manner. None of the Ds intended to strike or injure P. Without any doubt they intended to strike each other. P got the verdict and D appealed. D contends there was no evidence that the injury was willfully or intentionally inflicted or that the injury was the proximate result of wrongful and unlawful activity on the part of the other defendants.