Monday, January 5, 2015

St. Andrew's lawsuit dismissed

Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill dismissed a lawsuit filed against St. Andrew's by Precious (deceased) and Crystal Martin a year ago.  The Martins sought damages as they alleged the private school did nothing to protect their son from bullying.  Mr. Martin died in a four-wheeler accident in Ridgeland last May.  Judge Weill ruled in November that the claims filed by Precious Martin should be dismissed due to his death.   Judge Weill dismissed the case in December and stated in his order that all parties agreed to the dismissal.


JJ reported on January 14, 2014:

The Martins enrolled their three children in St. Andrews in January 13, 2013. The children were in the sixth, fourth, and second grades.  They claimed they paid a minimum of $39,595 in tuition and fees to St. Andrews.  The Martins claim another fourth-grader subjected their child to "verbal and physical abuse".  They state they notified the school about the problem as "early as August 27." The other child's parents complained to the school that Young Martin had then allegedly placed an "inappropriate comment" on the other child's Instagram page. (Don't know why a fourth grader has an Instagram page but I digress.) The school allegedly told the Martins no action would be taken about the Instagram caper as the even took place outside of the school. The complaint does not state whether the child was in the Klan.*

The Martins state their son claimed the other child "stomped and kicked him as well as called him names."  They allege he told the teacher about the incident but nothing was done.  Mr. Martin then filed an affidavit for assault against the fourth-grader in Hinds County Justice Court.  They claimed the other child harassed their kid and "called him rude names" at school a few days later. 

The Martins met again with the administration.  They allege Headmaster Penick said if they did not withdraw the affidavit, the school would dismiss their son.  He repeated the statement in an email sent to the Martins (p.31 below).  Mr. Penick stated in the September 10 email the charges were filed without "allowing the school time to address the situation." (They were filed the day after the incident.)  He also asked for their promise to work with St. Andrews and its "procedures" before using the criminal justice system. The affidavit was withdrawn.

The Martins allege various claims such as breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith,  tort of outrage, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, conspiracy, and tortious interference with contract. The Martins asked for actual and punitive damages.  The two sides are currently engaged in discovery. They have since withdrawn their children from St. Andrews. 

*Mr. Martin said this correspondent was in the Klan on his radio show after he lost his fight to keep the Motorola settlement with Hinds County from public eyes.

Related posts:
St. Andrews returns fire
St. Andrews asks court to stop Martins from fishing
 Precious Martin sues St. Andrew's and filed charges against fourth-grader



36 comments:

Bill Dees said...

The dismissal is the result of a settlement, no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Are u sure about that? If so then she would not be so busy chasing the mistresses payout and taking jobs 2hrs away from her 4 kids. I have no knowledge. But somebody up there must like St Andrews. PM passing was the only way to avoid a ridiculous, vicious and drawn out lawsuit. Are the kids still at JA?

Homeboy said...

Bill Dees may have 'no doubt' but that suggestion has been supported by no facts. If that were true, would the judge not put in the record that the case had been dismissed due to settlement (which might remain sealed)?

Anonymous said...

If there was a settlement, it was a nuisance settlement.

Who killed the mayor? said...

Doubt.

Anonymous said...

Bill Dees talks (again) about something of which he knows nothing.

Anonymous said...

The title of Weill's dismissal even says "Dismissal With Prejudice" - they even admit it right thar, y'all. :-)



I believe the kids are at MRA. Definitely not SA.

And a kid enrolled today at SA, leaving MRA because he was allegedly bullied there because he is black. His mom's a lawyer with a LOT of clout in the law community hereabouts (or would-be-law community). Don't these people talk to each other about where to avoid racists? :-)

Anonymous said...

I thought the Martin kids enrolled at JA. Is MRA diverse?
So the kids have enrolled in 3 schools in 2 years?

Anonymous said...

Sounds like behavioral issues to me. Sad to see the mother fighting it out with the other woman, the children just lost their dad.

Anonymous said...

The Martin children are not at MRA, confirmed. They must be at JA.

Anonymous said...

KF, can you repost the depositions? I seem to remember them online here. Too bad those kids left SA it's a nice school and I heard they were pretty happy there. The lawsuit was bad karma?

Anonymous said...

9:36 Bad karma indeed. One of the people they sued, accusing her of racism against black children, is a black woman. You can't make this stuff up.

Pittpanther said...

4:02, why would anyone whose kid could qualify for StA, bother going to MRA? Why would a Black lawyer send their kids to MRA (unless they were from out of town and got a recommendation from a white person -oops!)? Don't these people take tours of schools before signing up? Or talk to other black people? Sheesh!

When I moved to Jackson, my local relatives told me "Don't even THINK about sending your kids to JA!" That was all I needed to hear.

IQ Test Aisle Three said...

Hold on here....YOU moved to Jackson and your relatives who live in Jackson told you to not send your kids to a private school?

Drinks all around for this embecile and his 'local relatives'.

Anonymous said...

11:25 Don't be mocking someone's IQ with your reading comprehension problems. They said avoid JA specifically. Some of us understand why.

Anonymous said...

.....and more of us DON'T. Perhaps 9:08 will share his secrets. Nothing like a snarky "I know something you don't know" elitist attitude.

Anonymous said...

Should we assume that the Martins and their children were observing the rules/bylaws/standards of deportment at Saint Andrews, to the same degree with which Precious and his son were adhering to the the laws/bylaws/standards of courtesy toward neighbors, which applied in Bridgewater at the time of the fatal accident?

I remember reading that operation of an ATV was against Bridgewater regulations, as well as being against the law in Ridgeland. Is this correct? Was the vehicle being operated at a prudent speed, at the moment of the accident?

Do the Martins consider themselves to be exempt from the rules and standards of deportment to which the rest of us are expected to adhere?

Anonymous said...

".....and more of us DON'T. Perhaps 9:08 will share his secrets. Nothing like a snarky "I know something you don't know" elitist attitude. "

Sorry - I thought public knowledge was public knowledge.

There are several private schools in the greater Jackson area competing for your tuition dollars. Each year they publish a list of where that year's graduates are going to college.

Read them for yourself and draw your own conclusions. I'm not doing your homework for you.

PS Figure out where to look this up yourself too. Nothing is hidden from you.

Anonymous said...

Or just buy a house in Madison and send your kids--black or white--to the school that produces half of Mississippi's national merit finalists (and has at least 3-4 36 ACTs per year) for free.

Bottom line for the academy crowd, you're paying for one of three things: (1) segregation; (2) social standing; and/or (3) a chance for your 5'8, 140 pound kid to make the football team. Because the best education in the metro area comes from a public school.

Anonymous said...

Just adding on to 1:15's comment:

I read those lists every year and it will make you proud of these bright grads going to some of the finest colleges and universities across the nation. We have some really good work being done at these schools to prepare them for this next step.

Gives me hope.....

Anonymous said...

Glad you're a true believer 1:47, but I'll stick with the private schools. My opinion is the best education will not be found in public schools.

Anonymous said...

The schollies obtained by the private schools are breathtaking. More than pay for a life of tuition.

Anonymous said...

3:30 Actually, 1:47 is right about Madison Central - kids CAN get an excellent education there. I'm happy to pay my taxes to support it, because a first-rate school keeps up property values better than just about anything.

BTW, last year's valedictorians at both SA and MCHS are both very happy at Vandy this year. FWIW neither of them played football.

On a related note, since you introduced the ACT stuff, MC is a 6A school, so the NUMBER of the state's national merit finalists from that huge school is not that surprising. SA produces an almost equal number from about 70 students per senior class, the highest percentage in the state. SA was recently ranked as the 18th best private school in the entire USA. Did I miss an announcement that MCHS was equally ranked among all public schools in the USA?

Good luck to ambitious seniors from both schools as the busy season revs up for college applications.

Anonymous said...

Vandy is great! SA also had a bunch of ivy bound students harvard, Penn, UCLA, UCB, only ms student playing football in an ivy @ Yale. I'm not sure how MC measures up on that one. You tell me. SA top students can go top ten elite schools? Ranked 18. What is MC ranked?

Anonymous said...

Madison central is not highly ranked in MS. Murray has better numbers as per us news. I was surprised.

Anonymous said...

Murray has better numbers as per us news. I was surprised.

Murray State?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, why play football in the SEC or other major conferences when you can play football in the Ivy League.

Anonymous said...

Let's be very clear, St. Andrew's Episcopal School is defintitely not a white acadamey, nor has it ever been with its enrollment numbers or it curriculum or its opponents on the sports fields. Do not reveal your ignorace and bias by making that assumption. Its focus on diversity reflects its intent to prepare the students for the real world, not limiting them to the confines of fashionable northeast Jackson.

Anonymous said...

Auto correct! Murrah has similar numbers but no way in sending a kid there. Fight club school? None of these schools are comparable in the US. We don't test in so that can skew numbers.

Anonymous said...

-St. Andrew's is the exception when it comes to the private schools in the area. It is clearly a step above any other education alternative in the area. That said, I believe its tuition is WAY higher than the other private schools.

-After that, I would say that kids would receive a comparable, if not superior, education at Madison Central or Clinton as they would at Prep or JA. Clinton will never put up the test scores that Madison does because the districts are completely different demographically....but the caliber of education available is right there.

Anonymous said...

Let's be very clear, St. Andrew's is definitely not the most diverse private school in the metro area.

Anonymous said...

3:53. Who do you believe is more diverse than St. Andrew's? I would be interested having that verified. And no their tuition is not significantly higher than Prep or JA. They cannot price themselves out of the marketplace and a significant number of students receive financial assistance.

Anonymous said...

SA is the only diverse one sending kids to elite colleges. Are you referring to the catholic schools? Not sure if catholic education is considered diverse in all areas. How many kids there wearing hajibs, jewish? Etc? Color is not the point in diversity.

Anonymous said...

3:53. Who do you believe is more diverse than St. Andrew's? I would be interested having that verified. And no their tuition is not significantly higher than Prep or JA. They cannot price themselves out of the marketplace and a significant number of students receive financial assistance.

Anonymous said...

Would be nice if you St. Andrew's harpies would get off your asses and use KF's search feature. It is over there on the right below 'Recent Comments' and it works.

No, as discussed on JJ previously St. Andrew's is not the most diverse. And if St. Andrew's wasn't already pricing themselves out of the market they wouldn't be running so many convoluted ads about how their tuition should be valued. Financial assistance is nothing more than a discount off overpriced tuition.

Anonymous said...

St. Andrews' management and leadership team need to be scrutinized. Too messy, too disorganized. I cannot even say they are strong in curriculum. Do not send your kids there if you cannot be a big donner, simply because they will not tell you the truth about what happens in school and will not address any problems/issues raised.



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