California teen to receive $1M payout after court upholds verdict over her ex-friends bullying campaign

A California appeals court upheld a verdict ordering a Los Angeles County school district to pay $1 million to a former student who was the target of a relentless, months-long bullying campaign that included death threats.On Friday, the El Segundo Unified School District in Los Angeles County lost its appeal of a 2022 court decision that found the district negligent in protecting Eleri Irons from “bullying, tormenting, and aggression.”Irons, now 21, was a 13-year-old student at El Segundo Middle School when other teens began bullying her between November 2017 and June 2018.The school district’s appeal focused on several issues, claiming Irons failed to prove any of her injuries and that it wasn’t responsible for how employees handled the issue.The school’s lawyers also cited a state government code that removes public employees from all liability, according to Patch.Irons “suffered PTSD, cut herself and sought refuge in the school nurse’s office nearly every lunch break” over the intense bullying, the 2019 lawsuit stated.The harassment began after Irons’ friendship with two other classmates ended because of a love triangle.The two girls allegedly brought in a third teen as the bullying and torment spiraled.Irons was called “a liar, whore, cheater and boyfriend-stealer, flipped her off and made fun of her in the hallways, and even slapped her in the face.They screamed at her in person and harassed her online,” TODAY reported.The teen was the target of a months-long campaign of verbal harassment and cruel rumors leading up to a petition spreading around the school titled “End the Life of Eleri Irons,” her attorneys from the ACTS Law said.“This ruling confirms what the jury already knew: Eleri was failed at every level by the very people who were supposed to protect her,” attorney Christa Ramey said after the ruling.“Instead of taking accountability and supporting this young woman’s recovery, the district chose to spend taxpayer mon...