School District Pays Family $27 Million After Student Killed In Bullying-Related Incident

The Moreno Valley Unified School District in San Diego, California, has agreed to pay the family of a 13-year-old $27 million. This comes four years after middle schoolers killed Diego Stolz.

Attorneys for the family have noted that this is the biggest bullying-related settlement in the country.

In 2019, Stolz had been a student at Landmark Middle School when two students sucker-punched him in the face. When the last punch was thrown, Stolz fell to the ground, striking his head on a concrete pillar. Reports indicate that one bully still continued to punch Stolz in the face. Stolz suffered a major traumatic brain injury and died nine days following that.

The lawyer for Stolz’s family noted that relatives had notified the school that Stolz was being bullied and was punched in the face on multiple instances.

The school had vowed that the bullies would face consequences.

It was found that the Friday prior to Diego being killed, he and his adult sister had gone to talk to the assistant principal; however, nothing ever happened.

The 14-year-olds who took part in the bullying were given probation, anger management, and were sentenced to a little more than a one month in a juvenile detention center.

Now, Landmark Middle School has implemented a new bully reporting system and has given additional training to employees.