BECKLEY — A woman is suing the Raleigh County Board of Education alleging it caused her injuries by failing to monitor the lunchroom when she was a freshman in high school and was attacked by another student.
Morgan Treadway was a freshman in high school on Sept. 23, 2015, when she was in the lunch area with her peers and she was attacked by another female student, according to a complaint filed in Raleigh Circuit Court and removed to federal court Oct. 25.
Treadway claims the female student came from behind and grabbed her hair and repeatedly banged her head off the lunch table. She claims when the attack first started she put her hands over her head in an attempt to stop the assault, but her attempts were unsuccessful as the attack continued.
As the attack continued, students recorded the attack on their cell phones, but there were no teachers overseeing the students and it wasn't until the end of the lunch period that a teacher approached Treadway and she informed the teacher of the attack.
"Following the attack, Plaintiff alleges that from that point forward, a teacher or other school employee was always in the lunch room to oversee the students," the complaint states.
Treadway claims the school board violated her rights under both the state and U.S. Constitution and that it was negligent and breached its duty of care owed to her.
The board's contact was atrocious, intolerable and so extreme and outrageous as to exceed the bounds of decency, according to the suit.
Treadway claims the board caused her to suffer emotional distress that no reasonable person should be expected to endure.
The board's negligent, reckless, willful, wanton and intentional misconduct caused Treadway's physical and emotional harm, according to the suit.
Treadway is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. She is represented by Stephen P. New, Amanda J. Taylor and Kirk D. Lightner of The Law Office of Stephen P. New in Beckley.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia Case number: 5:19-cv-00776