News
Personal Injury & Torts
Feb. 28, 2002
Panel OKs Damages In Paint-Ball Incident
VENTURA - In a case that tested the liability of schools for off-campus injuries to students, an appellate court has upheld an award of $313,300 in damages to a teen-ager who was struck in the eye by a paint ball.
VENTURA - In a case that tested the liability of schools for off-campus injuries to students, an appellate court has upheld an award of $313,300 in damages to a teen-ager who was struck in the eye by a paint ball.
Rodrigo Castillo, a freshman at Bishop Garcia Diego High School in Santa Barbara, was injured during a raid by other students on a float he was helping to build for the school's homecoming parade. Todd Orduno, a sophomore, shot a paint ball gun into a crowd of freshmen including Castillo.
Contesting a jury's finding of negligence, the school claimed it did not owe Castillo a duty of care because the paint ball shooting took place off-campus and away from the private home being used as the float-building site.
But the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura found Bishop High breached its duty by failing to supervise students even though school staff knew that float-building was "notorious" for provoking vandalism among rival classes.
"It was reasonably foreseeable to Bishop High that students would leave their float-building houses to participate in water balloon 'raids' and other types of vandalism," the court said in an unpublished opinion issued last week.
A Santa Barbara Superior Court jury last year attributed 50 percent of the fault for Castillo's injury to Bishop High, 45 percent to Orduno and the remaining 5 percent to the plaintiff himself. Castillo v. Bishop Garcia Diego High School, 1002734 (Santa Barbara Super. Ct., filed March 2, 2000).
The float-building competition was part of the school's "Spirit Week" leading up to the homecoming parade. On the first two nights of float-building, juniors raided the house assigned to the sophomore class with water balloons and eggs.
After further raids occurred on the third night, the appellate court said, a faculty member failed to discipline students or prevent anyone from leaving the sophomore class house.
Rodrigo Castillo, a freshman at Bishop Garcia Diego High School in Santa Barbara, was injured during a raid by other students on a float he was helping to build for the school's homecoming parade. Todd Orduno, a sophomore, shot a paint ball gun into a crowd of freshmen including Castillo.
Contesting a jury's finding of negligence, the school claimed it did not owe Castillo a duty of care because the paint ball shooting took place off-campus and away from the private home being used as the float-building site.
But the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura found Bishop High breached its duty by failing to supervise students even though school staff knew that float-building was "notorious" for provoking vandalism among rival classes.
"It was reasonably foreseeable to Bishop High that students would leave their float-building houses to participate in water balloon 'raids' and other types of vandalism," the court said in an unpublished opinion issued last week.
A Santa Barbara Superior Court jury last year attributed 50 percent of the fault for Castillo's injury to Bishop High, 45 percent to Orduno and the remaining 5 percent to the plaintiff himself. Castillo v. Bishop Garcia Diego High School, 1002734 (Santa Barbara Super. Ct., filed March 2, 2000).
The float-building competition was part of the school's "Spirit Week" leading up to the homecoming parade. On the first two nights of float-building, juniors raided the house assigned to the sophomore class with water balloons and eggs.
After further raids occurred on the third night, the appellate court said, a faculty member failed to discipline students or prevent anyone from leaving the sophomore class house.
- Matthew Heller
#337612
Matthew Heller
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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