Kurilla v. Callahan
United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
68 F. Supp. 2d 556 (1999)
- Written by Alexander Hager-DeMyer, JD
Facts
Robert Kurilla (plaintiff) was an eighth-grade student at Mid Valley Secondary Center. Kurilla got into a fight with another student during a study hall supervised by teacher Kevin Callahan (defendant). Callahan called both students to his desk and asked the other student what happened, but Kurilla interrupted to tell his version of events. Callahan told Kurilla to shut up or he would lay Kurilla out on the floor. Kurilla attempted to interrupt again, and Callahan grabbed Kurilla’s shirt with clenched hands, pulling him forward. Kurilla collided with Callahan’s clenched fists with enough force to leave bruising on his chest, as though Callahan had punched him. Kurilla filed suit in federal district court against Callahan and the Mid Valley School District (school district) (defendant) for violating his constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Kurilla claimed that Callahan specifically violated his Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable seizures. All the parties filed motions for summary judgment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Vanaskie, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 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.
