Floyd Lawrence Patton, as Administrator of the Estate of Stephen Lawrence Patton v. Davida Bickford, Paul Fanning…

Summary

The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for the school administrators and teachers, but on grounds substantially different from those used below. It held that administrators making school policies were protected by qualified official immunity, while teachers performing and enforcing those policies were not; however, the Estate lacked sufficient non-speculative evidence that bullying caused Stephen Patton's suicide. The Court also held that bullying may support a wrongful-death claim when it is shown to be a substantial factor in causing suicide, so suicide is not invariably a superseding intervening cause. Justice Cunningham, concurring in result only, would have treated the teachers' bullying-related duties as discretionary, applied the federal teacher-protection statute, and remained unwilling to reject suicide as a superseding cause.