Bartlomiej Palosz's Family Reacts To Settlement With Town Of Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — The family of Bartlomiej "Bart" Palosz this week issued a statement on the $5 million settlement that was reached between the town of Greenwich and Palosz's estate.

The Board of Selectmen voted to approve the settlement last week, and the Board of Estimate and Taxation followed suit on Feb. 27.

The family sued the town of Greenwich and the Board of Education in 2015, claiming more should have been done to prevent their son’s death after years of being bullied.

Palosz committed suicide at home after attending his first day of class as a sophomore at GHS on Aug. 27, 2013.

The lawsuit claimed Palosz was bullied constantly during his years at Western Middle School and into his first year at GHS.

Staff and administrators were aware of the bullying, and despite mandatory anti-bullying policies adopted by the board of education, administrators, teachers and counselors failed to comply with the necessary required procedures to protect Palosz and provide him with emotional support and integration in school, the lawsuit claimed.

"Bart was a kind and wonderful boy who should never have had to endure the daily torment he experienced at school. We miss him every single day and our lives have been devastated by his suicide," the family said in a statement through the law firm Silver Golub & Teitell. "We brought this lawsuit to speak up for Bart and for other vulnerable victims of school bullying in Greenwich and elsewhere. It is our deepest hope that this lawsuit will change how the Greenwich school system responds to bullied students so that there will be no more needless and tragic deaths."

The family said in a news release that Palosz was "repeatedly punched, kicked, pushed downstairs, shoved into his locker, pelted with trash, called names, kicked, and otherwise harassed in school, and attacked while leaving school on his bike and on the school bus, and pushed into thorn bushes," yet nothing was done despite over 25 reports of bullying.

"This case is important not only because it vindicates Bart’s right to be protected from bullying but also because Connecticut courts repeatedly rejected the town’s claim that it had immunity and could not be held liable for failing to protect students who are bullied in school,” added Jennifer B. Goldstein, an attorney representing the Palosz family, in a news release.

The family was represented by David S. Golub, Goldstein and Joaquin L. Madry of Silver Golub & Teitell, and formerly by Marilyn J. Ramos.