Teen Wins $1M Lawsuit After Fellow Students Bully Her, Start Petition To Kill Her

A California teen, bullied by her three fellow middle school students in L.A. County has won a $1 million lawsuit against the school district.

A court ordered El Segundo Unified School District in Los Angeles County to pay $1 million in damages for being negligent and for failing to protect Eleri Irons who was "bullied, tormented and verbally assaulted" by three students between November 2017 to June 2018 when she was 13 years old, Ed Source reported.

One of the accused students initiated a petition called "Let's kill Eleri Irons." However, the teachers failed to act even as they were aware of the petition being circulated in the school, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit filed in 2019, as a result of the continued torture, Irons "suffered PTSD, cut herself and sought refuge in the school nurse's office nearly every lunch break," NY Post reported.

Although Irons's parents sought help from the school officials, they "dismissed the concerns as drama over a teen love triangle," Christa Ramey, Iron's attorney told The Los Angeles Times.

The family also blamed the school's former principal, Melissa Gooden for turning a blind eye to the death threat their daughter faced and for lying to them that the incident was reported to the cops.

"She didn't call the police that day. She attempted to make it seem like they did everything they could, but in reality, during the entire year, they didn't do anything.They never investigated a single claim of bullying made by my client," Ramey said.

Gooden is now an executive director of human resources with the district.

Irons, now 18, said although she is still traumatized by the incidents, she is grateful that sharing the ordeal would bring hope to other children who face bullying at school.

"I am so thankful that I have been able to share my experience and to actually be taken seriously so that the next time a child asks for help, the school will address it the way they should have for me," Irons said.

Meanwhile, the school district said that they will initiate efforts to prevent bullying incidents in the future.

"As a school district, we respect the ruling of the court and acknowledge the findings of the lawsuit. The next steps are up to our legal counsel. As we move forward, we are committed to self-improvement and doing everything we can to prevent bullying in our schools," the school district said in a statement.