Fazzolari V. Portland School District No. 1 J

When plaintiff, then a 15-year-old high school student, was about to enter her school building a few minutes before 7:00 a.m. on May 21, 1982, an unknown assailant grabbed her from behind and dragged her to some nearby bushes, where he beat and raped her. In an action against the school district to recover damages for her injuries, plaintiff claimed that school administrators were negligent in failing to provide proper supervision of students on the school's grounds during hours when the school was open to students, in failing to provide security personnel when district administrators knew of previous similar attacks and could have foreseen the danger of such attacks on students at plaintiff's school, in failing to warn students after similar attacks had been perpetrated in the area near the school and in failing to trim or remove bushes offering concealment to an assailant. The circuit court let the case go to trial but granted defendant's motion for a directed verdict at the end of plaintiff's evidence.