TICK BITE CASE
Discussion - Cara L. Munn against The Hotchkiss School
What are the standards of care for liability of a private boarding school for its students and the international travel programs?
The Hotchkiss school is a non-stock corporation having registered its business in Connecticut and therefore, formed pursuant to the laws of this District. According to the State of Connecticut Regulation of State Board of Education, the well-being of students is defined as a fundamental value in all decision making and actions. Besides, the dignity of each student’s family and open communication with them must be respected. “Educational tour operators providing travel services to students [Travel Law § 5.04[4][I]] may have a higher standard of care, as well, because of the age of the traveler and the need and promise to supervise the student’s well being (Dickerson 6). However, the plaintiffs (Orson Munn, Christine Munn and Cara Munn) voluntarily assumed the risk of travel to China. They signed the pre-trip Agreement, Release of Liability and were aware of the fact that the Hotchkiss school was not responsible for any injury to a person. This fact served as a principal defendant’s defense argument and the plaintiff was accused of her sole negligence and willful misconduct. A detailed medical investigation of TBE and Powassan symptoms and causes was conducted to prove the reason of the student’s disease undetected.
What is the effect of the school liability limitations stated in the pre-trip agreement?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health alert about the possibility and risk of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). However, Hotchkiss exonerated from responsibility making students fully answerable for their conduct in the foreign country. The limitations of their care liability resulted in their formal permission not to provide trip leaders with medical training, protocol in place for notification the students’ parents and even protective clothing to prevent from the negative outcomes.
What is a school’s liability for international trip?
Connecticut private boarding schools are regulated by the Connecticut State Regulations of Private Schools. There is a specific paragraph of Health and Safety Requirements and it describes the necessity to protect students by adequate immunizations against any kind of disease. Parents can object to vaccinations, but in the current case the plaintiffs were not even suggested such an option. Besides, a medically trained person, relevant contacts to health care institutions in China and at least a prompt response to the symptoms must have been available.
Conclusion
Finally, the jury awarded $41.75 million, although at first, the release was found unerforceable and void. A good argument in this case can be made by the plaintiffs whose child is not able to engage in a normal life anymore and lost her future earning capacity due the high degree of negligence by the Hotchkiss school administrators and staff. This case has shown that when signing trip pre-agreements and other organizational documents, parents should pay more attention to possible risks and dangerous conditions in a foreign country. Complete trust to a corporation may result in the poor and insufficient arrangement of a trip leaving an opportunity for students to even plan their route on their own and subsequently deviate from the safest paths.
Works cited
Dickerson, Thomas. Travel Law: Duty to Warn of Dangerous Environments: The Case of The
Chinese Tick”. Retrieved from www.nycourts.gov. Web 27 Aug. 2016.
