School bullying claims are often filed as civil rights violations, but injury lawyers should not approach them as traditional lawsuits. These claims connect and transcend classrooms, hallways, and cyberspace, and are constantly shaping a new area of civil and injury litigation.

The complexity is the result of many factors, including:

  1. The setting (on school property, off school property or cyberspace)
  2. The school's involvement (or lack thereof)
  3. The mental and physical states of the students
  4. The ages of the allegedly involved parties
  5. Any possible discrimination or protected status
  6. What technology was used
  7. Whether someone was deprived of their constitutional right to an appropriate public education

School systems have been failing in their state- and federally mandated obligations to combat and prevent severe behavioral issues and bullying. Consequently, more liability, injury, and wrongful death suits are being filed against school districts. Let's examine how bullying is categorized in state codes of conduct and civil law, where schools' liability begins and ends, and how schools can prepare for the common pattern of incidents that begin onsite and make their way into cyberbullying.