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Network for Public Health Law
Mitigating the Incidence and Severity of Injuries and Other Harms

Wartluft v. The Milton Hershey School and School Trust

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Overview

Wartluft v. The Milton Hershey School and School Trust (U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, February 1, 2021): The 3rd Circuit ruled that a free, private boarding school was not a licensed mental health or residential treatment facility and was thus not responsible for a student’s death by suicide. Specifically, the court held that the school no longer stood in loco parentis (in place of the parent) after the student left school and was released into her parents’ care, and that there was no evidence of a “continuing duty of care” on behalf of the school. The school also did not violate the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by barring the student from her 8th grade graduation and end-of-year barbeque, because she was not a “renter” under the meaning of the FHA and the graduation ceremony was not a service related to student housing. Read the decision here.

View all cases in the Judicial Trends in Public Health – March 15, 2021.

View all cases under “Mitigating The Incidence & Severity of Injuries & Other Harms.”