Lawsuit OK'd against fundraising companies in girl's assault

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05363/629737.stm

A girl who was sexually assaulted while selling candy for her elementary school may pursue a lawsuit against companies involved in the fundraiser, the state Supreme Court ruled.

The justices voted 4-2 to revive a lawsuit filed by the parents of a fifth-grader who was attacked and beaten by a man she approached to buy candy near her Indiana County home in 1999.

Wednesday's ruling sends back to county court the case against 84 Services Fundraising; its owner, Scott Manzek; and two other companies. A county judge had previously dismissed the lawsuit.

David C. Long, a lawyer for the girl, said he hoped the litigation will cause school districts to reconsider the use of students to raise revenue.

"With any kind of luck we're going to destroy the school fundraising industry. It's a plague. It has no business existing," Long said Thursday.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

1. great news

It's despicable to force children to go door to door just so people would buy useless crap they normally wouldn't because the school pushes so much peer pressure on the kids to do a good job.

They should go after the schools just as much to teach them NOT to buy into this kind of fundraising, not just the fundraising companies. The schools have no business doing that to kids. It isn't like they don't know about it, most teachers are made to berate kids into doing it.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. My kids get fundraising stuff and I don't let them sell it.

Virtually all fundraising companies, especially those that deal with elementary schools indicate on their paperwork that children should NOT go door to door. They stress selling to family members, friends, work companions, etc.

That being said, I just send in a check for the amount per kid they are looking to raise and toss the booklet. My kids are fine with it and usually the check they hand the teacher is a heckuva lot more than the other kids.

[Hobarticus]

Why punish the company and the school district?

I don't get the connection. How are they to blame for what happened?

[davidinalameda]

5. I can see the school district being named but not the company

but I'm sure it's a deep pockets thing--the company is going to have more resources than the district

[Hobarticus]

8. I'm not buying that the company or the school district's at fault...

We have friends with kids who sell stuff all the time. It's for a good cause, and I'd never know any of these people to encourage their kids to wander about and approach strangers in order to sell something. Why? Because they have common sense.

Would you send your kids trotting around, unsupervised, knocking on peoples' doors and going into stranger's homes, any day of the week and for no good reason? Of course not. So why do it in this case?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. So, you want to blame the parents? How about blaming a system....

...that forces the nation's school systems to look for alternative ways to fund their programs? How about blaming the greedy organizations that see school kids as unpaid salespeople to push their products?

[Hobarticus]

17. Makes more sense than suing the school...n/t

[northernsoul]

10. probably foreseeability of harm

My guess would be that there is empirical evidence out there that kids are frequently injured on these fundraising runs on behalf of school districts, that the fundraising companies are aware of these risks, and choose not to do anything about it. That's just a guess, I'd want to see the court filings.

[China_cat]

3. I hate the turning of students into sales people

BUT...I've seen what our schools would have to do without if not for those fundraisers. Little things like roofs that don't leak and electrical systems that work and air conditioning when it's 120 outside and the classroom is in a metal shed.

Maybe some heavy duty safety precautions? An online school store? Weekend booths outside of local businesses with no door-to-door selling allowed?

Oh hey, here's a really radical idea...how about sufficiently funding the schools in the first place?

[Hobarticus]

9. Or, parents providing some supervision in the first place?

Imagine that!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. Right. Let's blame the parents for what happened to the little girl....

...if she had been my daughter and you said that to my face we would have had a very short discussion, followed by me stuffing your butt in a trashcan.

[Hobarticus]

16. Never blamed the parents, tough guy...

The molester did this. He's at fault. Not the school, or the parents, or the girl, or the crappy candy bar company. Her parents warned her that going door-to-door was dangerous. She trusted a stranger, and it turned out for the worse. It happens to adults, too.

Still, the question stands: if you know that there's people like this guy out there, who is supposed to watch them? You, or the school? That's what this is all about.

Guess we're going to the mat, then, because I'd tell that to your face, too.

[benddem]

4. It was beginning to look

like the only skill we were teaching was sales. I'm sorry the little girl was beaten but this sending kids to get money for things the taxpayers should be providing...needs to come to an end.

[Branjor]

7. Yes....

A few years back in my area, a boy was killed by another boy after knocking on that boy's door twice trying to sell him candy for a school fund raiser.

[progressivebydesign]

6. Ridiculous lawsuit.

Every fundraising program at any school or organization for kids CLEARLY states that the children are NOT to sell alone, and most say do not sell to strangers or sell by yourself. That's an awful story, and made worse that her parents and brother were killed in a fire later. How much tragedy should one family endure??

I think some fundraising is absolutely valid. It's a great way for kids to learn self-confidence and responsibility. But... parents have to follow the rules and insist that their kids do the same. That psychopath would have attacked the poor girl had she been looking for a puppy, collecting for a newspaper route. I don't think fundraising is the issue.

I would prefer that schools were fully funded so kids didn't have to sell things.. but that's a fantasy as long as America values war more than education.

[AlCzervik]

11. how about her parents, where were they? My daughter was in Girlscouts

and they were very clear about sellings cookies "Do not go out alone" and she never did, i was always with her.

[superconnected]

12. they're dead. Died in a fire.

But while they were alive,

"Her parents told her that it was dangerous," he said. "You can't come in and then undermine every single thing her parents are trying to tell her."

The victim was four sales short of the 50 required to win an inflatable chair when she encountered Timothy S. Fleming, who was mowing his grass less than a mile from her home. Fleming invited her inside before attacking her in the bathroom and rendering her unconscious."

[MrPrax]

15. Noble attempt...

but I don't see the liability issue, save for the school district, who maybe liable for 'failing to protect children'--but then again, if it is outside school hours and on the weekend...how much of an extention do folks want from their school into their child's offhours.

However, if successful, I can see this ending all fundraising for kids in other avenues--everything from UNICEF boxes at Halloween to car washes to Little League hot dog sales.

But I do hope that this gets the ball rolling on this annoying little rite of passage--afterall, we send kids to school to learn, not door to door sales or hanging out in front of a mall hawking crappy cookies.

(I never actually buy the cookies or chocolate bars, I just give the kids a buck or two for a good cause and leave them usually with the proper impression that charity is NOT necessarily some act of commerce)


Home of the First Girl Guide Cookie and Tommy Douglas--Father of Canadian Socialized Medicine