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Bajjani v. Gwinnett County Sch. Dist.

The trial court erred in granting the defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings in a case involving serious injuries a high school student suffered due to a physical attack by another student, who had a history of violent behavior, since the record did not include the school's statutorily mandated safety plan.

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Joe and Michelle Bajjani, individually and as parents and guardians of Timothy, filed suit against the Gwinnett County School District, Board of Education, members of the Board, Superintendent of Schools, and three individual employees1 principal, assistant principal, and clinic nurse of North Gwinnett High School as the result of injuries suffered by Timothy when he was assaulted by a fellow student. The Bajjanis appeal from the trial court’s grant of the defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings. For reasons which follow, we reverse. In this state, when deciding a motion for judgment on the pleadings, the issue is whether the undisputed facts appearing from the pleadings entitle the movant to judgment as a matter of law. All well-pleaded material allegations by the nonmovant are taken as true, and all denials by the movant are taken as false. But the trial court need not adopt a party’s legal conclusions based on these facts.2 Thus, the question before us is whether the undisputed facts appearing from the pleadings indicate that defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Where the parties moving for judgment on the pleadings do not introduce affidavits, depositions, or interrogatories in support of their motion, such motion is the equivalent of a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The motion to dismiss should not be granted unless the averments in the complaint disclose with certainty that the plaintiffs would not be entitled to relief under any state of facts which could be proved in support of their claim.3 We review a trial court’s order dismissing a plaintiff’s complaint de novo.4

Here, the trial court accepted as true the following factual allegations of the Bajjanis:

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