SCHOOL STABBING COULD AFFECT AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS ON CAMPUS

By J.W. August

Photo via Pixabay

A version of this story earlier appeared in Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association. 

July 12, 2022 (San Diego) -- A 10th grader, call her “CA," was viciously stabbed after school by what she and others described as a “strange guy.”  The student had to undergo two serious medical procedures and a lawsuit was filed on behalf of CA, against the school district.   Superior Court Judge Richard Lee granted summary judgement favoring the district.  He didn’t feel CA was the school’s responsibility after school at that time of day; he believed no jury trial was warranted, and the case was dismissed but is not finished.   Lee's decision was recently overturned by the state's appellate court.

Why a school stabbing at Edison High School in Huntington Beach matters is because the appellate court not only returned the case back to the local courts to be tried but “published” their decision to do so. This does not happen a great deal, says San Diego Attorney Monty McIntyre.

“The Court of Appeal justices felt that this was an important enough decision, it should be part of the official case law” , says McIntrye and adds . “When the appellate or supreme court of California decides to publish a case, that then goes in the official case, law books.  It will be a law that be cited from forever.”

The case will now be heard within weeks, thats what one attorney close to the case believes, which means all the facts involved in the stabbing will be weighed by a jury in Orange County Superior Court.  Should the jury find in favor of the student, finding the district is liable, it could have costly consequences for school districts across the state.   Attorney Stanton Matthews represented the 10th grader and says he is “delighted the appellate court decided to publish this opinion; with all the issues of school attacks,  the court's decision reaffirms the right of students to be safe on campus”.

Here is how it went down in March of 2018.  The 10th grader went to track practice after class at 3:00pm; her practice ended early, so the  student and a friend went to Starbucks then returned to the school to pick up their books in the locker room at around 5:00pm. The on site supervisors were off the clock at 4:00pm nevertheless the school always left the locker room open after school until 6pm. On the way back to Edison they ran into a stranger on rollerblades, dressed in all black, Michael Anthony Meer.  As they moved closer to the campus, they tried to avoid Meer who was taunting them. 

At the campus they met up with other students telling them they were worried about the “strange guy”; one student in the group identifying Meer as a former Edison student who “is kind of weird."  They could see Meer talking to other students; they went to the locker room to retrieve books. There was no one in the locker room even though the school's swim team was still practicing.  With no site supervisors around, the grils "didn't feel safe" say court records and  locked themselves in the locker room. They called a parent to pick them up and after waiting, headed to the schools parking lot.   Once outside, Meer was seen moving at high speed on rollerblades, coming up behind the 10th grader.  He stuck her with a sharp instrument in the crouch and kept going.  It was a painful and damaging wound for the teen. Paramedics transported her; her colon had been pierced.  The 15 year old would endure two operations  and is now forced to wear a colostomy bag.

Media reports, not part of the trial record, show days earlier Meer had groped a 39-year-old woman and two underage girls who were at the Edison High School campus after school hours.  

In making his decision, Judge Lee noted that after school hours, there were supervisors present at the school for scheduled events and after 2:30 p.m. it was open, just like a park, so anyone could come in. In his order granting his summary judgment, the judge said:”the evidence shows that when the incident occurred, Plaintiff was no longer on campus during school hours or during a school-related activity. Thus, Defendant owed Plaintiff no duty.”

Attorney Matthews told this reporter he argued with the judge that the district had a responsibility to protect students even if they leave the campus and then return.   Matthews asked Judge Lee to compare it to an athletic contest, like a basketball game.  Stepping out of bounds doesn’t mean you are finished for the game.  You return to the court and play on.  The judge, says Matthews, was “adamant” that once the student went to Starbucks the school had no responsibility.

That is not how appellate courts Justice Eileen C. Moore saw it, she authored the decision saying that“[W]e hold the District owed (CA) a duty of care because she was stabbed while she was on campus during ‘school-related or encouraged functions”. She goes on to say in reversing Judge Lee’s summary judgement “We are certainly not finding that the District breached its duty”it left to the jury to ascertain the facts.

Attorney McIntrye further explains “ the Court of Appeal was basically saying--you know school district, you have made a decision to let all your supervisors leave by four and then you've got these kids who are still going to be on the campus.”

Meer would eventually plead guilty in court, after a failed attempt to claim insantity.  Media reports say during his sanity evalutation, he admitted the evidence against him was overwhelming with video and witnesses. In October, 2020 Meer plead  guilty to assault and battery, a misdemenour.  He was sentenced to 180 days in jail according to Orange County court records.