MASON — The parents named in a federal lawsuit that alleged they used “significant influence” and “conspired” with district officials to get their son reinstated in Mason Public Schools after a year-long expulsion following a reported sexual assault have asked a judge to dismiss the complaint.
The parents’ attorney, Uri Abt of East Lansing, claims the allegations are meritless.
The parents are also accused in the lawsuit of intentionally inflicting emotional distress on the girl who accused their son of sexual assault while applying for reinstatement. Abt argued in his motion to dismiss that to qualify for emotional distress, the girl and her mother must have “plausibly established” the defendants’ extreme and outrageous conduct, the defendants’ intent or recklessness, and severe emotional distress.
In Michigan, parents of minors who are expelled can petition the school board for reinstatement 150 days after the expulsion.
Abt said that is what the boys’ parents did, acting within their legal rights by petitioning the school board.