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Private school lawsuits

As the summer season begins, we are revisiting and summarizing some of the ongoing issues that have captured our attention during the past year.

LAKEVILLE  — Lawsuits were filed against both the Indian Mountain School and The Hotchkiss School in 2014, alleging that students had been sexually abused on the two campuses in the 1980s.

The schools are accused of having been negligent at that time for allowing the abuse to happen while the students were in their care. The statute of limitations on the cases is about to run out. 

 At this point, one suit has been filed in federal court against Hotchkiss, by attorney Antonio Ponvert (who won the $41 million judgment against the school on behalf of a student who got a crippling case of Lyme disease while on a school trip).

Three suits have been filed against Indian Mountain, one in federal court by Ponvert and two in Waterbury District Court by the firm of Kenney, O’Keefe and Usseglio. 

The cases are now in the discovery phase. Ponvert said that he believes additional cases will be filed in the near future. 

Lakeville Journal

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