St. Paul Public Schools says a Central High School teacher injured while breaking up a lunchroom fight has no grounds for a lawsuit.
The district last week filed a motion for summary judgment against John Ekblad, who sued in U.S. District Court in St. Paul one year ago. The parties have failed to reach agreement on a settlement, and the district wants the judge to decide the case in their favor without going to trial.
The district says that under Minnesota law, employees like Ekblad who are injured on the job must go through the workers’ compensation system, not the courts.
The district has paid Ekblad $65,772 in workers’ comp since he was hurt on Dec. 4, 2015, plus $26,939 in medical benefits and $963 in vocational rehabilitation benefits, according to an affidavit filed along with the motion.
Ekblad said in April that he was declining workers’ comp.
In the lawsuit, Ekblad accuses district leaders of failing to protect him despite knowing that 16-year-old Fon’Tae O’Bannon and the school generally were “dangerous.”
The affidavit says there are exceptions to the workers’ comp rules that would enable Ekblad to sue, but none apply.
Ekblad’s injuries clearly were job-related, district lawyers argue, because he received extra pay for supervising the lunchroom and serving on a safety team that breaks up student fights.
“He faced the special hazard of dealing with and breaking up fights at (Central) as part of his roles on the safety team and as lunchroom supervisor,” they wrote.
Further, the district could not have foreseen the attack because O’Bannon’s “student records do not contain any violent behavior incidents” and he had never before had contact with the teacher.
District lawyers also are arguing that former superintendent Valeria Silva and assistant superintendent Theresa Battle cannot be held personally liable for Ekblad’s injuries because they were doing their jobs.
Depositions for the case have not been made public, but according to the district’s affidavit, Ekblad has accused the district of having too few staff assigned to lunchroom duty. The district says staffing ratios are budget- and policy-related decisions, for which Silva and Battle cannot be sued as individuals.
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for May 4.
O’Bannon was given 90 days of home monitoring and community service after pleading guilty to felony third-degree assault. He told a judge he was trying to stop a fight involving his younger brother when Ekblad grabbed him from behind. The teacher was slammed onto a table, causing lasting head and nerve injuries.