## Facts

- Tyler Lee Long attended Murray County High School and was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome; he received special-education services under an IEP.
- Over at least two school years, Tyler experienced recurring peer harassment, including derogatory name-calling, physical aggression, and other humiliating conduct.
- Plaintiffs contended the harassment occurred because of Tyler’s disability and interfered with his access to educational benefits.
- Tyler’s parents reported multiple incidents to school personnel.
- When notified of specific incidents, school staff took measures such as disciplining students, meeting with teachers/students, elevating reports to administrators, and increasing supervision or adjusting conditions to protect Tyler.
- The measures did not fully end the harassment.
- At home, Tyler’s parents observed behavior causing concern about possible self-harm, but they did not inform school officials of suspected suicidal ideation.
- Tyler died by suicide at home in October 2009.
- Tyler’s parents sued the school district and school officials for disability discrimination, seeking damages under Title II of the ADA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act on a peer-on-peer harassment theory.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs produced sufficient evidence that Tyler was subjected to disability-based peer harassment that was severe or pervasive enough to deny educational benefits and that the district had actual knowledge of it.
2. Whether the district’s responses to known incidents could permit a finding of deliberate indifference (i.e., that the response was clearly unreasonable in light of known circumstances).
3. Whether plaintiffs produced sufficient evidence that the district’s acts or omissions caused Tyler’s suicide and other compensable injury for purposes of damages under the ADA and § 504.

## Decision

- The district court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment on all claims.
- The court held no reasonable jury could find deliberate indifference because the district responded in some fashion to reported incidents and did not maintain a policy of inaction.
- The court held plaintiffs failed to establish causation linking any alleged deficiencies in the district’s response to Tyler’s suicide, particularly given the absence of notice to the school of suicide risk.

## Legal Principles

- A damages claim for student-on-student disability harassment under Title II of the ADA and § 504 requires proof of disability-based harassment, denial of access to educational benefits, the district’s actual knowledge, and deliberate indifference.
- Deliberate indifference is a demanding standard; liability turns on whether the district’s response was clearly unreasonable in light of what it knew at the time, not on whether the district eliminated all harassment.
- Continued harassment does not, by itself, prove deliberate indifference where school officials take remedial steps after receiving reports.
- For damages, plaintiffs must present evidence of causation connecting the challenged conduct to the claimed injury; lack of actual notice of a specific risk of self-harm weighs against causation for suicide-related damages.

## Conclusion

The court entered summary judgment for the school district and officials because the record showed responsive actions to reported disability-based bullying and did not support findings of deliberate indifference or causation for Tyler Long’s suicide under the ADA or § 504.


Long v. Murray Cnty. Sch. Dist., No. 4:10-CV-00015-HLM, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86155 (N.D. Ga. May 21, 2012)