A B.C. supreme court judge has ordered a teenager and his parents to pay more than $48,000 in damages for a prank he played at Wellington Secondary School in 2012.
According to Judge Shelley Fitzpatrick’s ruling, Carson Dean, who was 14 at the time of the incident, attached a friend’s padlock to a sprinkler head on Jan. 17, 2012, despite knowing sprinkler heads would discharge water if activated.
There was significant water damage, as other sprinklers also started up. The Nanaimo school district and the student’s parents, Cheryl and Kevin Dean, agreed damages amounted to about $48,630.
New ruling from the B.C. Supreme Court in ‘Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District No. 68 v. Dean’ http://t.co/DjZI1bDMJx
— BC Court Bot (@BCCourtBot) January 8, 2015
As per a section in the B.C. School Act dealing with liability for damage to property, the school district claimed the student was negligent for damage caused by intentional interference of the sprinkler head. It sought recovery of damages.
The Deans argued the school act doesn’t impose liability unless there was intent to cause damage, which they say wasn’t Carson’s intention.
Ultimately, Fitzpatrick said the incident, “… was clearly the result of a young boy misbehaving and thinking that the only grief to come of it would be to [the friend] and perhaps the janitor in removing the padlock. Obviously, more dire consequences followed.”
“However, if there is to be any change to this provision in the School Act, that is a matter for the legislature, not the courts.”
In an e-mail to the News Bulletin, John Blain, acting school district superintendent, said the claim was initiated by the province’s School Protection Branch, the district’s insurer.
“In this particular instance, the district had submitted a claim to our insurer after the incident. The affected area of the school was repaired with funds from the insurer,” Blain said.
The school district won’t receive the money awarded. It will go to the insurer, according to Blain.
He said incidents where students are taken through the judicial system are rare and as such, the school district is offering student support for the family, such as counselling or Child Youth Care, which could include support for the whole family, said Dale Burgos, district spokesman.
The Dean family could not be reached for comment.
