In the case Fried v. Friends of Breakthrough Sch., 2020-Ohio-4215, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 3110, an Ohio appellate court found that the trial court erred in denying a school’s motion to dismiss on the ground that it was immune from liability by virtue of its status as a political subdivision because the administrator of a student’s estate and the student’s parents did not meet their burden of establishing that one of the exceptions in the Political Subdivision Tort Liability Act, R.C. 2744.02(B), applied with respect to their intentional tort claims. Because the administrator and parents did not satisfy their burden of establishing that the school was engaged in a proprietary function, the exception in R.C. 2744.02(B)(2) did not apply. Taking attendance and notifying parents of absences was inherently related to the provision of a system of public education, was statutorily required, and was not customarily engaged in by nongovernmental actors.
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Authors: Matthew John Markling and the McGown & Markling Team.
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