Consumer Law
An Appeals Court Revives a Teen’s Lawsuit Over a School Strip Search
A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit brought by an Alabama student who said she was strip-searched at age 14 by school officials who suspected her of smoking marijuana.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday reversed the ruling of a district court that stated Lamar County school officials had qualified immunity. The latest ruling allows the civil lawsuit brought by the student and her mother to proceed against the school system and officials.
The lawsuit contends the then eighth-grade student at Sulligent High School was strip-searched twice in 2017 after a teacher smelled marijuana burning in the classroom, and administrators found marijuana stems, seeds and rolling paper in the girl’s backpack
