New movement in $25 million Montravious Thomas lawsuit. Here are the details.
The $25 million lawsuit resulting from a classroom confrontation between a Columbus teen and a contracted behavior specialist has been ordered into mediation.
Montravious Thomas, then 13, had his right leg amputated below the knee after Bryant Mosley allegedly “body-slammed” him five times during the physical altercation Sept. 12, 2016, in an alternative school, the Thomas family’s lawyers have said.
In March 2017, Lawanda Thomas filed the lawsuit on behalf of her son against the Muscogee County School District and seven other defendants.
According to the Nov. 18 order from Muscogee County State Court Judge Ben Richardson, the parties had five days to reach “an equitable settlement” of the case before being required to participate together in “at least one mediation session” conducted by a mutually agreeable mediator.
The date for the mediation session had to be selected within 10 business days of the order.
The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach any of the lawyers involved in the case to get the status of the mediation before this story’s deadline, but MCSD superintendent David Lewis told the L-E in an email Monday, “To my knowledge, nothing is scheduled until possibly February.”
One of the defendants, Mentoring and Behavioral Services LLC, agreed in the spring to pay Montravious, his mother and his lawyers an undisclosed amount in exchange for being dropped from the lawsuit.
In March 2018, the plaintiffs dropped from the lawsuit the school district and five MCSD employees in their official capacities, but they remain defendants in their individual capacities, along with Mosley:
- Lewis, the MCSD superintendent
- Zehra Malone, who was Montravious’ teacher at the alternative school the first and only day he attended there. Montravious was the only student in Room 109 when the confrontation with Mosley occurred, according to the lawsuit and video footage the Ledger-Enquirer obtained.
- Phyllis Fox, who was the paraprofessional in the classroom
- Eddie Powell, who was the alternative school’s assistant principal. He was in charge that day because the principal was absent.
- Gisela Huggins, the MCSD bus driver who took Montravious home that day but failed to provide medical treatment for his broken and unstabilized leg or report the injury, the lawsuit says.
In April 2018, 19 months after the incident, the Columbus Police Department’s investigation concluded. No criminal charges were filed in connection with the case.
Also last year, the plaintiffs’ lawyers filed a motion to add Columbus Police Lt. Consuelo Askew as a defendant in the lawsuit. Askew was MCSD’s part-time security officer on duty at the alternative school the day of the incident. She also was CPD’s lead investigator in the case, which the plaintiffs’ lawyers called a conflict of interest.
As of last week, the lawsuit’s public documents don’t show how Judge Richardson has ruled on the motion, and a call to his office Monday didn’t answer the question.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 5:50 AM.
