Case Study: The Chilliwack School District

On June 26, 2009, the Supreme Court of British Columbia held that the Chilliwack School District was responsible for the injuries sustained by Devon Hussack, a 7TH grade student playing field hockey in his Physical Education class. The court found that the physical education teacher didn’t meet the standard of care as the student didn’t have any experience in the sport and was not taught at all how to play this particular sport.
The student sued the school district for carelessly failing to teach and coach him the necessary skills to play field hockey. Because of this, the student argued that the school didn’t protect him from being struck in the face by another student’s stick during the course of a game. A few weeks after the injury, Devon

complained of weakness, tiredness, altered concentration, sleep disruption and mild photophobia.
The school district argued that it had met the standard of care in instructing and directing the student in PE class. In addition, the school district argued that even if the teacher did fall below the standard of care, the student’s level of dysfunction and somatoform illness were not caused by the accident and occurred because of his preexisting conditions.
The court found that the dysfunctional family dynamic made Devon more vulnerable to mental damage resulting from the physical injury sustained in the field hockey game. However, this did not argue or overlook the school’s accountability. As a result, Devon was awarded $1,365,000 in damages.
I agree with the outcome of this court case. The school should have been aware that Devon had conditions that required either more instructions or absence from playing field hockey. If the school was aware of this, Devon most likely would not have sustained an injury. In the future, school needs to be more cognizant of students who have special conditions and require more attention.