Fwd: [SchoolUniformsDebate] NJ School forced to pay over $600,000 for redneck t-shirt suspension
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Sam Carana
Jul 29, 2006, 12:58:07 AM7/29/06
to schoolu...@googlegroups.com
Great outcome in the T-shirt case.
This will make schools think twice before suspending students for wearing the "wrong" T-shirt!
Cheers!
Sam Carana
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: wqert89 <SchoolUnif...@yahoogroups.com >
Date: Jul 28, 2006 8:08 AM
Subject: [SchoolUniformsDebate] NJ School forced to pay over $600,000 for redneck t-shirt suspension
To: SchoolUnif...@yahoogroups.com
Fees awarded in "redneck t-shirt" case
The Warren Hills School District has been ordered to pay $574,000 in
attorneys' fees to CIR co-counsel (and Board member) Gerald Walpin as
a result of his having successfully persuaded the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit that Warren Hills' dress and speech
codes were unconstitutionally vague. Together with CIR, Walpin
represented Tom Sypniewski in a legal challenge over his suspension
for wearing a t-shirt that listed "Ten Reasons You Might be a Redneck
Sports Fan..." The school claimed the word "redneck" was racially
derogatory.
Newspapers
School district loses its (T-)shirt
Warren Hills must pay ex-student's legal fees in 'redneck' case
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
BY MIKE FRASSINELLIStar-Ledger Staff
Disciplining a student for wearing a $5 T-shirt five years ago could
end up costing the Warren Hills Regional School District close to $1
million.
The Warren County district has been ordered to pay nearly $600,000 in
plaintiffs' legal fees incurred during the 5-year-old free speech
rights battle over whether a high school student could wear his
"redneck" T-shirt. That tally does not include the amount the district
has paid its own lawyers.
Thomas Sypniewski Jr. was suspended for three days during his senior
year in 2001 for wearing a T-shirt that listed blue-collar comedian
Jeff Foxworthy's Top 10 reasons someone might be considered a redneck
sports fan (Reason No. 4: Your bowling team has its own fight song).
District officials said the T-shirt violated the high school's
anti-harassment policy, enforced in the wake of racial incidents in
which students referring to themselves as "Hicks" and "Rednecks"
harassed black students.
Sypniewski, now 23, dropped his lawsuit against the district last
month, saying he was working as a union carpenter and had moved on
with his life. He maintained, however, that he wore the shirt simply
because he thought it was funny.
Foxworthy, whose catch phrase is, "You might be a redneck if ... ,"
makes fun of his roots in the rural South with references to tattoo
parlors that have financing plans and to a friend who brought beer to
a job interview.
The $5 T-shirt stirred a national debate over free speech rights, as
First Amendment experts and Foxworthy himself weighed in on the topic.
And now the garment has gotten exponentially more expensive.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni has determined Warren
Hills was responsible for $574,245 in legal fees incurred by
Sypniewski's family to fight the suspension and school ruling.
Sypniewski's New York attorney, Gerald Walpin, said the former student
never wanted more than an apology and the freedom to wear the shirt.
Walpin said he went "on bended knee," begging the district not to
force Sypniewski's family to have to bring a lawsuit.
"If the school board had accepted our advice from the beginning, there
would have been no lawsuit and no legal fees," Walpin said yesterday.
"But, for whatever reason, the school board refused to listen to us as
to the merits of our case. They caused what happened."
School officials have maintained their actions controlled the racially
charged atmosphere in 2001. Last month, Superintendent Peter Merluzzi
proclaimed Sypniewski's dropping of the lawsuit "a complete victory"
for the district.
School board President James T. Momary said given the racial tensions
at the time, the district determined the fight over the T-shirt was
one worth making.
"We felt we owed it to a minority that was being picked on, to stand
up for them," Momary said last night. "Our job as board members is to
guarantee the safety of our kids. It also is to show them the right
thing to do."
The board is scheduled to meet tonight and could discuss what recourse
the district, which has an annual budget of around $30 million, might
have, Momary said. He called the amount awarded the plaintiffs
"ludicrous."
The plaintiffs -- Sypniewski and two younger brothers who have since
graduated -- had sought $710,871 in attorneys' fees, saying the civil
action was undertaken to protect their First Amendment rights.
While agreeing the plaintiffs were the "prevailing party," Bongiovanni
determined that, based on the average rates for law partners and
associates listed in a fall publication of the New Jersey Law Journal,
the school district should pay plaintiffs' fees in the amount of
$574,245.
The lion's share of the calculation included $224,462 for Walpin --
$394 per hour for just under 570 hours.
Mike Frassinelli covers Warren County. He may be reached at
mfrass...@starledger.com or (908) 475-1218.
CIR prevails in "redneck t-shirt" case
U.S. Federal District Court Judge Mary Cooper struck down portions of
the Warren Hills Regional School System (NJ) dress code and racial
harassment policies on the grounds that they violated the First
Amendment. In 2001, school officials suspended student Thomas
Sypniewski for wearing a humorous Jeff Foxworthy t-shirt that listed
"Ten Reasons You Might be a Redneck Sports Fan." The school contended
the term "redneck" was racially inflammatory.
In 2002, CIR successfully persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit to reverse Judge Cooper's refusal to grant a preliminary
injunction in the case. The Third Circuit held that that the school's
policies punished speech that was harmless on its face and did not
genuinely threaten disruption. After hearing evidence in the case,
Judge Cooper permanently struck down the offending portions of the
speech and dress codes.
The case sets an important legal precedent against so-called
"zero-tolerance" policies, which unconstitutionally punish students
for any speech that might offend another student regardless of whether
there has, or likely will be, any disruption.
To visit this group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SchoolUniformsDebate/
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: wqert89 <SchoolUnif...@yahoogroups.com >
Date: Jul 28, 2006 8:08 AM
Subject: [SchoolUniformsDebate] NJ School forced to pay over $600,000 for redneck t-shirt suspension
To: SchoolUnif...@yahoogroups.com
Fees awarded in "redneck t-shirt" case
The Warren Hills School District has been ordered to pay $574,000 in
attorneys' fees to CIR co-counsel (and Board member) Gerald Walpin as
a result of his having successfully persuaded the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit that Warren Hills' dress and speech
codes were unconstitutionally vague. Together with CIR, Walpin
represented Tom Sypniewski in a legal challenge over his suspension
for wearing a t-shirt that listed "Ten Reasons You Might be a Redneck
Sports Fan..." The school claimed the word "redneck" was racially
derogatory.
Newspapers
School district loses its (T-)shirt
Warren Hills must pay ex-student's legal fees in 'redneck' case
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
BY MIKE FRASSINELLIStar-Ledger Staff
Disciplining a student for wearing a $5 T-shirt five years ago could
end up costing the Warren Hills Regional School District close to $1
million.
The Warren County district has been ordered to pay nearly $600,000 in
plaintiffs' legal fees incurred during the 5-year-old free speech
rights battle over whether a high school student could wear his
"redneck" T-shirt. That tally does not include the amount the district
has paid its own lawyers.
Thomas Sypniewski Jr. was suspended for three days during his senior
year in 2001 for wearing a T-shirt that listed blue-collar comedian
Jeff Foxworthy's Top 10 reasons someone might be considered a redneck
sports fan (Reason No. 4: Your bowling team has its own fight song).
District officials said the T-shirt violated the high school's
anti-harassment policy, enforced in the wake of racial incidents in
which students referring to themselves as "Hicks" and "Rednecks"
harassed black students.
Sypniewski, now 23, dropped his lawsuit against the district last
month, saying he was working as a union carpenter and had moved on
with his life. He maintained, however, that he wore the shirt simply
because he thought it was funny.
Foxworthy, whose catch phrase is, "You might be a redneck if ... ,"
makes fun of his roots in the rural South with references to tattoo
parlors that have financing plans and to a friend who brought beer to
a job interview.
The $5 T-shirt stirred a national debate over free speech rights, as
First Amendment experts and Foxworthy himself weighed in on the topic.
And now the garment has gotten exponentially more expensive.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni has determined Warren
Hills was responsible for $574,245 in legal fees incurred by
Sypniewski's family to fight the suspension and school ruling.
Sypniewski's New York attorney, Gerald Walpin, said the former student
never wanted more than an apology and the freedom to wear the shirt.
Walpin said he went "on bended knee," begging the district not to
force Sypniewski's family to have to bring a lawsuit.
"If the school board had accepted our advice from the beginning, there
would have been no lawsuit and no legal fees," Walpin said yesterday.
"But, for whatever reason, the school board refused to listen to us as
to the merits of our case. They caused what happened."
School officials have maintained their actions controlled the racially
charged atmosphere in 2001. Last month, Superintendent Peter Merluzzi
proclaimed Sypniewski's dropping of the lawsuit "a complete victory"
for the district.
School board President James T. Momary said given the racial tensions
at the time, the district determined the fight over the T-shirt was
one worth making.
"We felt we owed it to a minority that was being picked on, to stand
up for them," Momary said last night. "Our job as board members is to
guarantee the safety of our kids. It also is to show them the right
thing to do."
The board is scheduled to meet tonight and could discuss what recourse
the district, which has an annual budget of around $30 million, might
have, Momary said. He called the amount awarded the plaintiffs
"ludicrous."
The plaintiffs -- Sypniewski and two younger brothers who have since
graduated -- had sought $710,871 in attorneys' fees, saying the civil
action was undertaken to protect their First Amendment rights.
While agreeing the plaintiffs were the "prevailing party," Bongiovanni
determined that, based on the average rates for law partners and
associates listed in a fall publication of the New Jersey Law Journal,
the school district should pay plaintiffs' fees in the amount of
$574,245.
The lion's share of the calculation included $224,462 for Walpin --
$394 per hour for just under 570 hours.
Mike Frassinelli covers Warren County. He may be reached at
mfrass...@starledger.com or (908) 475-1218.
CIR prevails in "redneck t-shirt" case
U.S. Federal District Court Judge Mary Cooper struck down portions of
the Warren Hills Regional School System (NJ) dress code and racial
harassment policies on the grounds that they violated the First
Amendment. In 2001, school officials suspended student Thomas
Sypniewski for wearing a humorous Jeff Foxworthy t-shirt that listed
"Ten Reasons You Might be a Redneck Sports Fan." The school contended
the term "redneck" was racially inflammatory.
In 2002, CIR successfully persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit to reverse Judge Cooper's refusal to grant a preliminary
injunction in the case. The Third Circuit held that that the school's
policies punished speech that was harmless on its face and did not
genuinely threaten disruption. After hearing evidence in the case,
Judge Cooper permanently struck down the offending portions of the
speech and dress codes.
The case sets an important legal precedent against so-called
"zero-tolerance" policies, which unconstitutionally punish students
for any speech that might offend another student regardless of whether
there has, or likely will be, any disruption.
To visit this group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SchoolUniformsDebate/
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