Teacher Says Student Hit Her, Files Suit

A high school teacher is seeking $100,000 in damages from a student who allegedly resisted discipline and hit her in the abdomen when she was seven months pregnant.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court, teacher Vicki Anderson claimed that she missed more than two months of work after receiving the blow in a hallway at Capistrano Valley High School on Oct. 9, 1985.

In the lawsuit, Anderson identified the student as Craig Samuelson Jr., then a senior at the school. Anderson argues that financial responsibility for the attack rests, in part, with the youth’s parents, who on Wednesday called the lawsuit “frivolous.”

“I was shocked that somebody would hit me, especially right there,” said Anderson, 33, who is married and the mother of two. “When you’re 7 1/2 months pregnant, you’re really showing.”

“Thankfully, the unborn child was not hurt,” said Anderson’s attorney, John A. Montevideo.

The youth was suspended for five days, then transferred to another school, according to Anderson. Anderson, who teaches physical education, said she had “never seen him before; I didn’t know his name.”

“I never heard anything from the parents,” Anderson said. “They didn’t say they were sorry. They didn’t call after the birth wondering if we were OK.”

Dan Saling, a lawyer and staff representative of the California State Teachers Assn., said in 20 years of work with the teachers group he had never heard of a teacher suing a student.

“This is the first case, to my knowledge,” said Saling, who handles labor relations for 3,000 teachers in Irvine, San Juan Capistrano and the Saddleback Valley.

Anderson was acting as a campus monitor at the time of the incident. Six boys who had been released early from classes were walking across a courtyard toward a building where classes were in session. Samuelson allegedly ignored her direction that he not enter the building. She followed him in and told him to come with her to the principal’s office.

Nine-Year Veteran

“He called me names,” Anderson said. “He started to run away. I went underneath his arm to get him” to the principal’s office. “He turned around and hit me.

“I told him, ‘You didn’t have to hit my baby,’ ” Anderson said. “Then I broke down and cried for 20 minutes.”

Anderson has taught high school for nine years, seven at Capistrano Valley. She said the incident left her in an emotional turmoil.

“My doctor suggested that because I was suffering from emotional trauma that I should stay out until the birth of the baby,” Anderson said.

Bruce Samuelson, Craig’s father, said he would have contested the discipline of his son last year had he been aware that he could do so.

“The law courts are full of frivolous lawsuits,” Bruce Samuelson said. “This is another one. I welcome the opportunity to see her in court,” he said, referring to Anderson.

In the lawsuit, Montevideo cites a state law that says parents are responsible for damages to those harmed by the willful or malicious acts of their children, up to a limit of $10,000. Typical homeowners’ insurance policies also cover damages from the actions of children, Montevideo said.

The suit charges that Anderson was subjected to emotional distress and seeks $100,000 in separate punitive damages, designed to punish wrongdoers and make an example of their misconduct.