Can a school violence victim receive damages?

Hello. This is an attorney specializing in school violence at Daeryun Law LLC.

If a person has suffered school violence, they can claim civil damages separately from criminal punishment or discipline by the School Violence Countermeasures Deliberation Committee.

In other words, if your child has suffered mental and physical harm due to the perpetrating students' violent acts and is receiving treatment, the right to receive legal compensation for it fully exists.

First, the respondents to the claim for damages can be the perpetrating students themselves and their parents.

Under the Civil Act, even a minor bears a certain degree of liability if they commit a tort, and because parents have a duty to supervise their children's conduct, if they fail to fulfill that supervisory duty, they bear joint and several liability for damages.

In addition, if the school or teachers were aware of the circumstances of repeated bullying but failed to take appropriate protective measures, a claim for damages against them is also possible. This is a part requiring proof of the school's management and supervisory negligence and is a matter requiring specialized legal review.

The items of damages can include not only direct treatment costs such as medical expenses, medication costs, and psychological counseling costs, but also future treatment costs, learning loss costs due to interrupted schooling, costs arising from transferring schools or changing the commute, and the guardian's indirect losses (such as income loss due to caregiving or taking leave from work).

In addition, consolation money (solatium) for the emotional distress caused by the perpetrators' assault, extortion, and defamation can also be claimed, and the amount of consolation money is calculated by comprehensively considering the degree of harm, the persistence of the perpetrating acts, the results of criminal punishment, and the victim's age and prospects for recovery.

To prove such damages, it is important to secure all possible materials, such as treatment records, medical certificates, the resolution of the school violence deliberation committee, investigation records, screenshots of the group chat room, text message or social media evidence, and statements from friends.

In particular, if the victim student is receiving treatment due to psychological shock, you must be sure to keep the medical institution's diagnosis and treatment cost receipts, and a future treatment plan or a specialist's opinion can also be used as important evidence for calculating consolation money.

As for the procedure, you file a civil lawsuit and have the amount of damages fixed by the court. The right to claim damages is extinguished by prescription after 3 years from the date the tort became known and 10 years from the date of the act, so it is necessary to secure evidence and take legal action as soon as possible.

Daeryun Law LLC handles the entire criminal, administrative, and civil process in school violence cases in an integrated manner.

In particular, we prioritize the victim's psychological stability through a psychological counseling center while establishing strategies to achieve both recovery from the harm and legal compensation at the same time.

In particular, in collaboration with a digital forensics center, we analyze the original metadata of the group chat room and systematically organize the victim's statements and medical materials to fully prepare the materials needed to prove the amount of damages.

School violence is a serious human rights violation that has a long-term impact on the entire life of a school violence victim.

We recommend that, for your child's recovery and safety, you pursue treatment and legal procedures in parallel while organizing evidence and records as quickly as possible.

An attorney specializing in school violence at Daeryun Law LLC will closely analyze the characteristics of the case and the degree of harm, and will stand with you to the end so that your child can achieve both rightful legal compensation and psychological recovery.