District immunity

Parents sued a school district after their son died while on a school field trip. Two teachers supervising the students allegedly failed to enforce the students’ 11:00 p.m. curfew and allowed two adults, who were not designated as official chaperones, to visit with the students.

The teachers went to bed and left the other two adults to supervise the students. The other two adults went to bed at 1:30 a.m., leaving the students unsupervised. Before they did so, they sold the students an illegal substance, some of which was given to the parents’ son. He claimed that he could see strange images, began to scream and ran onto a nearby freeway, where he was struck by a car. An autopsy confirmed the presence of marijuana in the boy’s body.

The parents sued the school district, alleging gross negligence on the part of the school district for the circumstances surrounding their son’s death. The district court dismissed their claims. Under Texas law, school districts are immune from liability, except in very limited circumstances. The parents did not allege facts that established those required elements. Therefore, the school district was immune from liability for the boy’s death.