In 2010, the male plaintiff was a pre-kindergarten student at Krey Elementary School in the Brentwood School District. Since Fall 2009, he had received special education services due to autistic-type behaviors and a speech and language disorder and was placed in Teacher Dina Holder’s “Special Day Class,” along with other special needs students, many who had serious speech problems. On May 25, 2010, plaintiffs claimed that when the boy failed to join a circle of students at Holder’s request, Holder grabbed the boy’s arm and threw him to the floor from his desk. His parents, Kevin and Caneel Phelan, claimed that Holder also kicked the boy at least two times while screaming obscenities at him. About a dozen fellow students and instructional aides watched. Plaintiffs claimed that no one contacted them nor police or child protective services, as required by law after this incident. The Phelans sued the school district, Holder and Principal Lauri James for battery, negligence and failure to report. The state case was removed to federal court and consolidated with the first filed federal action. The plaintiffs claimed that the morning after the May 25 incident, Mrs. Phelan noticed a bruise on her son’s back and asked him what happened. Plaintiffs asserted that only two days later did the first report of the incident come, when instructional aides from the boy’s class informed James, who then reported the incident to district officials. The plaintiffs claimed that not until June 1, 2010, did James call Mrs. Phelan and tell her an “incident” happened the previous week and requested a meeting with the parents, an aide from the boy’s class and an assistant superintendent from the district. The plaintiffs claimed it was the first time they heard details of the incident. James informed the plaintiffs that Holder had been placed on paid administrative leave and the incident would be investigated and kept confidential. Plaintiffs went to Brentwood police immediately after the meeting. Holder was arrested, pleaded no contest Oct. 6, 2011 to misdemeanor child abuse and was sentenced to four years probation. The plaintiffs contended that Holder was not credentialed to teach autistic children, yet had many in her classes and that the district failed to train and/or supervise her. The plaintiffs also noted that there was a long history of complaints against Holder, also inclusive of children with disabilities, and that the childrens’ disabilities made the complaints against Holder difficult to pursue. The parents relied on testimony that revealed that students in Holder’s class had been subjected to ongoing verbal and physical abuse and that the classroom was a hostile educational environment for children with disabilities. The plaintiffs further contended that the abuse could have been prevented had the school district acted on Holder’s history. The plaintiffs noted the history included allegations made by witnesses in depositions, including a 3-year-old boy that was allegedly shaken violently, a 3-year-old that was allegedly slapped in the face, a toddler allegedly taped to a chair and a 3-year-old Down Syndrome student in Holder’s care that was found wandering in the school parking lot. The Phelans contended that their son’s abuse, as well as the four others, clearly met the required threshold for reporting. Despite all of the numerous and serious complaints, the plaintiffs asserted that Holder was allowed to work in the same special needs position at Krey Elementary School., The parents did not seek counseling for their son. They sought recovery for unspecified damages. According to plaintiffs’ counsel, defense contended that any damages that the boy suffered was not great.