Father sues Kanawha school board, teacher for son's injuries

CHARLESTON -- A father is suing the Kanawha County Board of Education and a teacher after his son was injured as school.

On Nov. 20, 2009, J.D., a 14-year-old student at Nitro High School, was attending his physical education class when Stephen Pritchard, the physical education teacher, allowed ten to 15 students to go out on the tennis courts and play football, according to a complaint filed April 30 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Martin Douglas, J.D.'s father, claims his son was knocked down and sustained severe injuries while playing football.

Douglas claims other children playing football had to leave the tennis courts and enter the school building to find Pritchard, who was not outside or in sight of the tennis courts where they had been playing football.

Pritchard had a duty to supervise the students of his class and failed to do so when he was not physically present n the tennis courts when J.D.'s injuries occurred, according to the suit.

Douglas claims the Board of Education had a duty to provide a safe environment for J.D. and supervise him from the time he arrived at school until he returned home and negligently failed to do so.

Douglas is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is being represented by Christopher J. Heavens.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Louis Bloom.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 10-C-804