Award in bullying case is slashed

By COLLEEN JENKINS, Times Staff Writer
Published December 18, 2007

TAMPA - Saying an attorney's closing remarks inflamed a jury, a judge has cut a $4-million schoolyard bully award to $600,000.

Hillel School of Tampa, a Jewish community day school, is on the hook for the award.

The parents of Danny Heidenberg sued after a bully broke their 12-year-old son's arm in January 2004, leaving him with permanent nerve damage.

They complained that school officials knew the student was a bully and did nothing to address his behavioral issues.

But Hillsborough Circuit Judge William Levens said the Heidenbergs' attorney focused too much on punishment rather than the school's liability during his closing argument in October.

In his order, the judge called attorney David Tirella's comments "prejudicial and highly inflammatory." If the plaintiffs do not accept the lower award within 20 days of the Dec. 13 order, Levens said he will order a new trial on the issue of damages.

It's a somewhat unusual move. Judges are usually disinclined to override a jury's findings. Either side could appeal the judge's ruling.

During the October trial, a jury heard how a bully assaulted Danny Heidenberg several times, prompting the boy's father to ask Hillel's principal to protect his son. But as recess winded down and a supervising teacher went inside on Jan. 29, 2004, the bully chastised Danny for not joining in a football game. He tackled Danny to the ground, breaking two bones in his left arm.

Attorneys were not permitted to argue punitive damages.

Tirella, however, emphasized that school officials never apologized and asked the jury to "teach the teachers."

"Today's the day that they get taken to the woodshed," he said at one point.

On Monday, Tirella said he had not yet seen the order. He was pleased that the judge had let stand the jury's finding on the school's liability.

Of his remarks to jurors, he said, "I am a passionate person."

Mark Hartig, one of the attorneys who represented Hillel and petitioned Levens for a reduced verdict, said his team was taken aback by the tone of the trial.

He applauded the judge's order. The jury award, he said, "was so outside the bounds of what I think anybody would have expected if we would have had a fair trial."

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at cjenkins@sptimes.com or 813 226-3337.

[Last modified December 17, 2007, 23:32:04]