Seattle Public Schools is appealing the $8 million verdict tied to a 2018 incident in which a former math teacher hit a then-middle school student and ejected him from the classroom.
A King County jury returned the verdict in November, but the case continued for several months, with a final ruling on key questions coming just this month.
First, the district sought a new trial, arguing a bevy of claims, including that attorneys for the former student, Zakaria Sheikhibrahim, relied on emotional appeals to send a message to the district in their arguments. The district also argued the jury had been improperly instructed and that one of the jurors should have been removed for bias because the juror said they thought the district’s presentation of images from Sheikhibrahim’s Instagram appeared to be racist…