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A TEXAN is suing an independent school district claiming that his daughter's constitutional rights were violated when one of its schools performed a search of her mobile phone.
The lawsuit stems from an investigation carried out by MacArthur High School following rumours that a threatening situation involving a gun might have been afoot. The administrators thought for some reason that young Madelyn Beaird was involved and questioned her about it at school without calling her parents.
During their questioning of the girl, the school administrators "sought her permission" to search her phone and took possession of it.
When Ms Beaird's father found out, he thought that his daughter's constitutional rights had been breached by the school illegally searching the phone. A lawsuit entailing a claim for $7.5 million in damages ensued.
As for how the Beaird family reached that figure of $7.5 million, Madelyn's father John Beaird referred to a well-known judgment against the fast-food chain McDonalds. "I remember back when hot coffee was spilled in the McDonald's law suit. They were awarded $4.5 million. I said you know, I guess a constitutional right is worth at least $4 million today."
The school district board voted unanimously to deny the Bairds' claim, however the family said it intends to take the matter up in federal court.
As it turned out, no gun was found at the school and no one got hurt. However, while the school district did not give the Beairds $7.5 million, it did offer to reimburse Madelyn for her phone. µ
constitutional rights should not be touched by some over-controlling skewel twit. fire the principal and the skewel board and give the girl a nokia n900 and 3 years of free counseling paid for by principal and let other skewels beware.
Thanks, Horse. I was about to put together similar tirade, but you were faster. $7M is a punitive damage and in the end it either won't be awarded or it will be few magnitudes lower, but it's enough to make it heard.
Sad that it's coming out of parent/public pocket in this case, not the savings account of that power-tripping jackass.
Sarah: "GET A LIFE"
Get a clue! And some backbone: the word "fucking" is only naughty for those too easily offended by it. How about spelling it properly?
The article suggests that the girl had the phone permanently taken from her but was "reimbursed". Clearly, rapped knuckles (not "wrapped" unless you mean something completely different) doesn't compensate for the bother of having to acquire another phone and to put everything back onto it.
What if someone took your car away and scrapped it, or took your house and demolished it, only to hand over the purchase price and some token amount for any lost possessions later on? You'd be fairly pissed off about it, especially if some group of idiots on a power trip kept doing this to you and to others repeatedly. Just the sheer inconvenience would drive you up the wall.
So, get a clue, Sarah. The multimillion dollar amount is punitive - that's the whole point. The idea is to sting anyone doing this very hard indeed and to deter anyone else who thinks it's acceptable from doing it in the future.
only in America !! Sure, the girls rights were breached and the school should compensate (wrapped knuckles and red faces all round) but how petty, conceted, and lacking in any form a genitalia would someone have to be to think $7.5 million an appropiate?
GET A LIFE
...instead of the school? If there was a credable threat they coppers should have been involved.
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