A Southern California school district agreed to pay $27 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a 13-year-old boy who died after he was assaulted by two students four years ago.
The Moreno Valley Unified School District settled with the family of Diego Stolz, who was beaten to death at Landmark Middle School on Sept. 16, 2019. The settlement may be the largest in the country related to school bullying, according to law firm Taylor & Ring, which made the announcement Wednesday.
Cellphone video of the incident showed two teenagers confronting and punching Stolz, who fell and hit his head against a pillar in the schoolyard. He died several days later from a brain injury.
Bullying at schools is pervasive across the country. According to a recent report by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, 40% of youth said they were bullied on school property in the past year, and 38% of them didn’t tell an adult.
“The school knew Diego was being targeted and did nothing to put an end to the bullying,” the firm wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “We hope this case is a wake-up call to all schools in the U.S. – take your anti-bullying policies seriously and when a student complains, take action.”
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Attack caught on video
According to the suit, the family issued multiple complaints to school administrators about the repeated verbal and physical abuse Stolz experienced on and off campus. But…
