Lack of Supervision

Recently the New York City Board of Education was sued when a student was injured in a fight with another student. The injured student claimed that the Board of Education failed to supervise the student who instigated the assault. However, in Espino v. New York City Bd. of Education, the city's board of education established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law in a personal injury action brought by a 17-year- old student who was injured during a fight in a school hallway. The summary judgment evidence demonstrated that the supervision provided for students of the plaintiff's age was sufficient, that the attack on the plaintiff was sudden and spontaneous and could not have been prevented by more supervision, and that the board had no prior notice of problems between the plaintiff and his assailants.