$10 Million Bullying Lawsuit Against Howard County Schools Dismissed

A $10 million federal lawsuit a couple filed against the Howard County school district that accused school officials of failing to protect their son from bullying at has been dismissed.

Peter and Cynthia Bulgarino of Ellicott City filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in September 2010, contending that their son  in school in 2007 he developed post traumatic stress disorder.

According to online court records, the lawsuit against the Howard County Board of Education and other school officials was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis on Sept. 12. 

"I fully expected that we would win, and so I was not suprprised at winning," said Mark Blom, attorney for the school system. "We won this very early on and for that I was extremely grateful, because of the effect on the principal and the assistant principal who were being sued here. Let’s face it—the plaintiff is calling into question your professional actions, that’s unnerving.  I’m very relieved we won this in the beginning stages of the lawsuit."

Howard County schools spokeswoman Patti Caplan confirmed the case dismissal in an email Wednesday. She said the case judgment had not come to light earlier because school officials “usually don’t make a public announcement of things like this.” 

Calls to Peter and Cynthia Bulgarino’s home in Ellicott City were not returned Thursday. Baltimore Attorney Philip Sweitzer, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Bulgarinos, also did not return phone calls and emails Thursday.

Blom said the court decision went in the school district's favor because the court found that school officials met their duties in responding to incidents during the school day.

"Other things" that happen outside of school were not the school's responsibility, Blom said. 

Blom said the time for the plaintiffs to file an appeal on this case has expired.

"This is finally over and closed," he said.

Families are increasingly filing lawsuits regarding bullying, officials from the National School Boards Association told USA Today in September.

"If a school employee witnesses a behavior that is problematic and makes a conscious decision not to address it, it becomes the school's problem," Saben Littlefield, of Outright Vermont, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender youth and advocacy organization, told the paper.

According to the Bulgarinos' lawsuit, five students attacked their son at the school in incidents that were recorded in a police report. He was slammed into lockers and jabbed with pencils and drumsticks, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit sought $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The suit contended the district and district officials deprived the Bulgarinos' son of his due process and equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment. Officials failed to protect him from assault and harassment at school, the lawsuit said.

In 2008, the Bulgarinos' son was diagnosed with PTSD, the lawsuit said. That year, he transferred to a private, Catholic school where, the lawsuit said, he began to excel and flourish academically.