Teen Beating Victim Files Negligence Suit Against School Board

The South Florida teen who spent over 40 days in a medically-induced coma after a brutal beating at the hands of a classmate is filing a negligence lawsuit against the Broward School board Thursday.

A lawyer for 16-year-old Josie Lou Ratley claims the school district failed to provide adequate security and failed to provide a safe environment which might have prevented the brutal March 17, 2010 attack.

Ratley was nearly beaten to death by 15-year-old Wayne Treacy as she waited for her bus outside of Deerfield Beach Elementary School. Treacy, a middle school student, was angry at Ratley over a text message she allegedly sent the boy about his dead brother.

Ratley was left with severe brain damage and has to re-learn nearly everything she knew, including how to eat, how to recognize colors and people and her ABCs. She faces years of rehab.

Sean Domnick, Ratley's lawyer, claims the teen suffered permanent injuries and is completely disabled as a result of the attack.

Domnick claims there's been hardly any contact between the school district and himself and the Ratley family. He says the district hasn't reached out to the family to offer any services for her recovery, and that he's tried to contact the district in an attempt to settle the Ratley family's claims to avoid a lawsuit, but that the board won't won't discuss the matter with him.

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