This kid did and now gets a nice million bucks..



THE NSW Department of Education and Training is considering an appeal after a court ordered it to pay damages, which could amount to $1 million, to a boy bullied at primary school.

A department spokesman said lawyers were reading today's judgment to see if there were grounds for an appeal.

Justice Carolyn Simpson concluded the primary school had "grossly failed" in its duty of care to Benjamin Cox, who now suffers from a severe psychiatric condition.

Mr Cox, now 18, was aged six and seven when he was regularly bullied by an older, disturbed pupil at Woodberry Public School, near Maitland in the NSW Hunter Valley.

He sued the NSW Government over the bullying.

The judge found the school's responses to repeated complaints by his mother, Angela Cox, were "dismally inadequate".

"His adolescence has been all but destroyed; his adulthood will not be any better," the judge said in the NSW Supreme Court.

"He will never know the satisfaction of employment. He will suffer anxiety and depression, almost certainly, for the rest of his life. He is unlikely to form any relationships, romantic or platonic. He has no friends and is unlikely to make any," she said.

While the exact amount of damages has not yet been calculated, Mr Cox's legal team expected it to be around $1 million, thought to be a record in a school bullying case.

Today's case coincided with a federal government move today to give teachers and principals more power to deal with schoolyard bullying and give parents more information about discipline, bullying and poor behaviour.

Mr Cox's case may also open the way for substantial damages awards for other bullying victims, lawyers said.

Mrs Cox gave evidence of her son becoming "absolutely petrified" of going to school, particularly after his tormentor tried to strangle him in February 1995.

When she complained about the school's inaction, she said a Department of Education officer told her "bullying builds character".

Her son continued to have nightmares and headaches, cried all the time and developed a severe stutter.

The little boy refused to use public toilets after telling his mother the older pupil jumped out from buildings - including the school toilets - and scared him.

Once she was called to the school office to find her son crying, with a lower tooth missing and a bleeding lip.

He told her the older boy had "tried to shove his jumper down his throat".

Justice Simpson accepted Mr Cox was subjected to "harassment, bullying and assault" at the hands of the other boy.

She also accepted that Mrs Cox made repeated attempts to have the school authorities intervene and control the conduct of the other boy.

"The staff made no attempt to deal with a serious problem", the judge said.

"The school authorities responded quite inadequately to an escalating problem and failed to take such steps as were reasonably required to protect (Benjamin) from the conduct of a plainly behaviourally disturbed older pupil."

When Mrs Cox took her son out of the school in September 1995, she told the principal she was not going to submit him to any more bullying or hurting.

She said the principal told her: "You lose some kids and keep some".

Justice Simpson accepted psychiatric evidence that Benjamin had been a "very vulnerable" boy, having a genetic predisposition to depression or other such conditions.

But she also accepted that the bullying was the initiating factor which led to his current condition - variously described as separation anxiety disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The Education Department spokesman said bullying was "not acceptable then" and is "not acceptable now" and measures had been introduced in the 13 years since the incident.

"We have been strengthening the ability of schools to deal with bullying issues," he said.

Ok now i reckon a lot of people were bullied (including me cause i was a bit chubby- nothings changed ) at school but fanta pants reckon he cant work, make friends, has to sit in a blackened room all day. Harden up princess. Die your hair, stop eating junk food and make some friends!

I know bullying is a serious problem in schools today and my advice to all kids is to ignore the teachers and FIGHT back against em. These cowards will soon learn to show some more respect (Trust me it works VERY well if you smack a bully out. Problem is i got suspended twice as a result but it worked FAR better than dobbin on em. Stupid deputy principal bitch at duncraig...) but to go this far claiming he cant go outside and work is a bit full on i think.

WTF is wrong with the world. On another note, I might sue KFC for helping me stay chubby

This infuriates me. He sits in a blackened room all day, because he got hit a few times when he was 6-7?

All those years after the age of 7, and he couldnt get over it? Everyone got teased in some way in school, and I'm sure we all had our fair share of fights...but 99.99% of us are fine!

He needs to get off his arse, switch off his PC and stop batting off to porn and playing WoW, and get a real fucking job. It really does seem like people over dramatise events such as this, just to gain sympathy and in this case, get some money.

heard this on the radio this morning....wippa from 92.9 almost blurted to open a "can of toughen the Fcuk Up" hahaha funny....

but on a more serious note bullying should not attract legal intervention just good ol Violence...fuk em up!!!

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MY04 WRX CLUBSPEC 7

Due to being called a 'nerd' and a 'geek' all my life at school, I now have to spend most of my days trapped in a small dimly lit room with my PC.

Since I was taunted as a young child at school, I can no longer talk to women in real life and must look up internet porn.

I must also sit at my desk as a keyboard warrior on many forums, so I can exact revenge on all these 'bullies' who have hurt me in the past.

Because of this I now require $1 billion dollars compensation from the Education Department. This money will help put a new light in my computer room and purchase a 8800GTX video card to load my porn faster, thus making me a happier man.

Reckon that will work?

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[COLOR="Gray"]550Nm off a 2L... Just wish it was in the dak dak...[/COLOR]

That fat fucking retard needs to harden the fuck up! Fatty Boomba Nancy Girl four-eyed sissy!!

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MY09 Evo X - 1.6bar@3500rpm - got lag?
Barbagallo - 56.03 (S); 1:08.09 (L)
Collie - 50.77
Possibly the most under-driven Evo X in the world??

Its true you know, there was this one fucker in year 9 who gave me a really hard time (chubby, short kids (ie me) cop it hard at high school ) but a bit of strength, a growth spurt later and a serious punch on tends to put them in the place MUCH better than a teacher ever will.

Its the only answer and as Joe will tell u (dating a primary school teacher and all) teachers cant do SFA these days.

couldnt have said it better

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Evolution 8 MR

Forester GT

You're right, teachers cant do anything in regards to physically stopping bullying, unless they see it happen on the spot (which most of the time they wouldnt). In that case, it would go to the principal, but it still doesnt stop it from happening at a later date or outside of school. Any physical intervention apart from literally pulling two fighting kids apart, is of course, a good way to land themselves in hot water, because you cant lay a finger on a child for almost any reason.

Its also very difficult if they dont see it, because most kids will not tell the teachers whats happening...but some teachers can pick it up in the kids behaviour.

You're also right about doing it back to them. One thing that Mandee used to do when she was teaching pre primary, was if a kid was constantly biting or hitting another kid, she would encourage the victim to do it back to them. It used to stop pretty quickly after the kid retaliated with the teachers permission!!!

In Chicago, some girl is suing her school for half a mil because the teacher showed Brokeback Mountain in class. She claims it has given her psychological scarring and is suing the school with her Grandmother.

Only in America.

i used to get bullied (i was 3' tall, in year 11!)
then i did more weights and shit at gym.
i'm still only 4' tall but im 4' wide now too.

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MY93 Impreza GX 1.8L, 0hp, 0nm