An Ohio appellate court recently held that a school district is not liable for an 11-year-old student’s suicide, which his father argued was caused by the use of a school-issued device. In Victor Soler, Jr. v. Cleveland Metropolitan School District, et al., the Eighth District Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision and held that the software meant to monitor and filter students’ online activity on the school-issued device was not a “physical defect.” 2025-Ohio-2151 (8th Dist.) Thus, the school district was immune from liability.
Under Ohio law, political subdivisions, such as the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (“CMSD”), are only liable for losses caused by the negligence of their employees that occur on school grounds, due to a physical defect, or in connection with the performance of a governmental function. See R.C. 2744.02. The Court held that because monitoring software utilized by the school district was not a “physical defect” and because the student’s death occurred off school property, CMSD was immune from liability.
The Facts:
Like many school districts, CMSD provides students with digital devices, which they are permitted to take home. Tragically, the 11-year-old CMSD student committed suicide, allegedly while watching harmful and obscene content on the device. He was home at the time.
The student’s father sued the CMSD and others, arguing that their child’s death was caused by defective filtering software on the device, which should have blocked or restricted their son’s access to the harmful content. They also argued that CMSD employees should have monitored students’ online activities and educated them on appropriate online behavior.
Finally, the father argued that while the student was not physically on school property at the time of his death, the filtering and monitoring of the software was utilized by CMSD’s on-site IT Department. Therefore, the alleged defect occurred on school grounds.
The CMSD filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that they were immune from liability as a political subdivision. The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, holding that it was not clear from the face of the Complaint whether CMSD was immune from liability for the student’s death. CMSD appealed.
The Law:
Under Ohio law, school districts are generally immune from liability for injuries that occur on school property unless certain exceptions apply. See R.C. 2744.02. In this case, based solely on the allegations in the complaint, the Eighth District held that none of those exceptions applied. First, the Court held that allegedly defective filtering software was not “a physical defect” as contemplated by the statute. Relying on the dictionary definition of “physical defect” – “a perceivable imperfection that diminishes the worth or utility of the object at issue” – the Court held that the alleged misuse or failure to monitor the software did not constitute a physical defect (emphasis in original).
In its reasoning, the Eighth District relied on an earlier decision in which it held that a malfunctioning parent notification system was not a physical defect under R.C. 2744.02(B). See Fried v. Friends of Breakthrough Schools, 2020-Ohio-4215 (8th Dist.) It also recognized that while the law often struggles to keep up with technology, the filtering software was simply not the type of physical defect the legislature envisioned when it passed Ohio’s political subdivision immunity law.
Finally, the Court also held that the school district was immune from liability because the student was not physically on school grounds at the time of his death.
The Impact:
This decision reaffirms that certain technologies do not constitute physical defects under Ohio’s political subdivision immunity law. At least for now, the use of certain technologies, such as online filtering software and parental notification systems, does not constitute a physical defect, and school districts will remain protected from liability for injuries allegedly caused by their use (or alleged misuse).
School districts will also remain immune from liability allegedly caused by these technologies, which occurred off school property.
If you have any questions about this decision or have issues related to political subdivision immunity, please reach out to one of our Education Law Liability attorneys.
Attorneys
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland, OH