Lance v. Lewisville Independent School District
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
743 F.3d 982 (2014)
Montana Lance, a fourth-grader with an IEP and behavioral improvement plan under the IDEA, experienced ongoing conflicts with classmates, including being pushed and getting into physical altercations, each of which the school investigated and addressed with discipline for the students involved, including Lance himself at times. After one incident, school staff sent him to a psychologist and counselor following a comment about suicidal feelings, prompting additional meetings; after another altercation, he was sent to the office and permitted to use only the nurse's bathroom, where he locked himself in and hanged himself, dying after being found and rushed to the hospital. His parents (plaintiffs) sued the school district for constitutional violations and disability discrimination under § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; the trial court granted the school summary judgment, and the parents appealed.
Whether a school may be held liable under § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act only upon a showing that its conduct amounted to deliberate indifference to known acts of harassment against a disabled student.