Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
B

Brownell v. Los Angeles Unified School District

4 Cal. App. 4th 787 (1992)

From our private database of 47,000+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Brownell v. Los Angeles Unified School District

California Court of Appeal
4 Cal. App. 4th 787 (1992)

Facts

Johnson High School (school) was a small public high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (district) (defendant) that served students who had been referred there from other schools for behavior problems. The school prohibited its students from displaying signs of gang affiliation and confiscated gang-related items almost daily. Moreover, the school was located in a neighborhood with a high level of gang activity. Ernest Brownell (plaintiff) was a student at the school who had never had any gang affiliation. Shortly after being dismissed at the end of one school day, Brownell was confronted by members of a gang. The gang members mistakenly believed Brownell to be a member of a rival gang and shot and injured Brownell. School officials had not visually swept the area surrounding the school for gang members before dismissing students for the day. Prior to Brownell’s injury, the school had not experienced a shooting that school year. Brownell sued the district, alleging that the school’s breach of its duty of care to supervise students caused his injury. A jury awarded damages to Brownell. The district appealed, arguing that it did not breach any duty of care it owed to Brownell.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Boren, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 899,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 899,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 47,000 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 899,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 47,000 briefs - keyed to 994 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Education Law

Key Terms