Drew Ferraro case moved to Burbank

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge relinquished the case involving a former Crescenta Valley High student who killed himself after deeming it “too complicated,” court records show.

The case stems from the lawsuit filed against the Glendale Unified School District by the parents of Drew Ferraro, a 15-year-old Crescenta Valley student who killed himself on campus in 2012.

Los Angeles Superior Court judge Samantha Jessner was scheduled to hear the case earlier this month, but instead transferred it to the Burbank courthouse where it will be heard in August.

Drew’s parents — John and Deana Ferraro — seek $2 million for the wrongful death of their son, claiming his death was a result of ongoing bullying at school.

Attorneys for Glendale Unified, however, are asking the court to dismiss the case, stating in court records the Ferraro’s claims are meritless.

But in court records filed on July 14, the court determined, “This matter is too ‘complicated’ for the personal injury courts to manage,” and it was transferred to Judge William Stewart in Burbank.

Stanley Lieber, an attorney representing the Ferraros, said this week the case is “not complicated — just a lot of work… in my opinion.”

“I’m still confident that we’re going to win on the issue,” he added.

Drew’s parents claim their son “feared the atmosphere that defendants failed to improve for him and from this, his anxiety worsened, as did his progress at school.”

But the school district’s attorneys said the Ferraros failed to show how Glendale Unified’s response to complaints of Drew’s harassment “were the proximate cause of Drew’s suicide.”

Court documents show Drew also appeared to be depressed.

According to a classmate who was aware Drew was on medication, the 15-year-old told his friend he was depressed as early as eighth grade.

Two days before Drew killed himself on campus, he sent a text message to a friend, telling her, “I honestly think we could use an apocalypse.” When his friend replied, “Why do you want that?” he went on to say, “I don’t want it, but it wouldn’t be horrible. It would all just be over and I wouldn’t be hurting anyone with my death.”

He added soon after, “I’m not being suicidal now. This is just me being lazy,” according to court records.

When his mother came across those messages, she confronted Drew.

“We talked about suicide being permanent and that it’s something you can’t take back and that he’s loved and he has a lot of friends,” Deana Ferraro said in a court deposition.

“I know. I know. I’m not thinking about doing anything like that,” she recalled Drew replying to her.

In recently released court papers, Deana Ferraro said she became aware Drew was thinking of suicide in October 2011, when Drew reportedly told his sister that if he were to kill himself, he wouldn’t do it at home, but in “the woods.”

Deana Ferraro said she initially cried in response to his feelings, telling her son “high school was just a short part of his life,” she said in a court deposition.

In another incident, he “talked about not being here next weekend” during a text message conversation with a friend. Deana Ferraro found the dialogue and confronted him.

“I asked him why he would talk like that. And he said, ‘It’s just hard being a teenager. It’s hard fitting in,’’’ according to court records.

The hearing on the summary judgment motion will take place Aug. 22 in Burbank.