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Attorneys for the Southwestern Central School District say the district shouldn't be required to turn over pre-discovery materials in a potential lawsuit by a substitute teacher because there is no sign the district is at fault and because disclosing school security videos and building blueprints is a security risk.
The district responded to a July court filing by a Lakewood woman asking the state Supreme Court in Mayville to compel the Southwestern Central School District to turn over video of an alleged incident in which the woman was injured. No lawsuit has yet been filed, only an attempt to require the district to provide information so that a claim can be filed before deadlines included in state law expire. Cristy Stutzman and her attorney filed affidavits Friday asking the court to require the school district to turn over video evidence of an incident at Southwestern Elementary School where she was allegedly pushed from behind by a child in a school hallway. Stutzman said she fell and sustained several injuries, including a fractured wrist.
Southwestern's attorney said the request for videos from all of the Southwestern Elementary School cameras is overly broad and burdensome. There are more than 100 cameras inside and outside the school building, with only one capturing the alleged incident.
"While this one video clip depicts an interaction or encounter between a kindergartener and Ms. Stutzman, nowhere therein does the video depict Ms. Stutzman being pushed from behind by this kindergartener or anyone else," attorney Troy Flascher of Gerber, Ciano, Kelly, Brady LLP argues in his affirmation in opposition of the request.
Stutzman's attorney said in the July filing that district officials had confirmed a video exists, but that the video can't be released due to student privacy concerns. She asked the court to require the district to provide any photos and videos from all cameras at Southwestern Elementary School for a one-hour period from June 4, blueprints of the school and information she says her attorney needs in order to file a claim. Timothy Andruschat, Stutzman's lawyer, said a notice of claim can't be prepared with the required specifics without the information from the district. Andruschat's affidavit also asks the district to provide the name and address of the student who was allegedly involved so the child's parents can be placed on notice of a potential homeowners insurance claim.
Flascher said there was already enough information to file a claim while also arguing the school district shouldn't be forced to identify the student.
"The portion of the petitioner's OSC seeking to compel the respondents to provide the name and address of the 'potential infant defendant' so as his or her parents can be placed on notice of a potential homeowners' claim is improper," Flascher argued. "The respondent is not the agent of the petitioner or her counsel. The respondent should not, and cannot, be forced to identify 'potential defendants' infant or otherwise. Identifying 'potential defendants' infant or otherwise involves both a factual and legal assessment, and there is no proper legal basis to compel the respondent to undertake any such assessment on behalf of the petitioner."
"The video will presumably allow the petitioner to craft her Notice of Claim with the specificity required ... including, but not limited to: the specific acts of negligence attributed to school personnel (i.e. lack of sufficient number of supervising personnel at dismissal, failure to carry out duties of school employees at dismissal time, etc.) regarding the 'nature of the claim," Andruschat wrote in his affidavit. "Petitioner does not know who pushed her from personal observation nor have any other independent observations regarding the incident. She was told a young male child struck her from behind but cannot swear under oath as to the requirements of (state law) 'the nature of the claim."