Two former students of a Catholic private school in California were jointly awarded more than $1 million after they were accused of wearing “blackface" and expelled.
The two were kicked out of Saint Francis High School in 2020 after photos of them from 2017 wearing a green acne face mask went viral amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
According to the lawsuit, the boys were given the choice of withdrawing or being expelled, without being offered a hearing, the Los Angeles Times reports.
A Santa Clara County jury sided with the former Saint Francis High School students who claimed the district was in breach of an oral contract and did not give them due process before expelling them in 2020 for photos that were three years old. The jury rejected the students’ other claims, including breach of contract, defamation and violation of free speech, on Monday.
The students, referred to as A.H. and H.H. in the lawsuit, will get $500,000 each from the school and also be reimbursed for tuition, which is about $70,000 total. (Los Angeles Times)
“This case is significant not only for our clients but for its groundbreaking effect on all private high schools in California, which are now legally required to provide fair procedure to students before punishing or expelling them,” said Krista Baughman, one of the attorneys for the students. “The jury rightly confirmed that Saint Francis High School’s procedures were unfair to our clients and that the school is not above the law.”
In a statement, A.H.'s family thanked the jury and court for helping their family "find justice, which now paves the way for their names to be cleared for things they never did."
NEW: Jury awards a $1MILLION verdict to students who were wrongly expelled and accused of wearing a BLACKFACE
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) May 8, 2024
The legal team said that the two students wore an acne-fighting face mask in solidarity with a friend who was prescribed the medication by a doctor in 2017
Several… pic.twitter.com/WY0hKchrpS
Representatives for the school said they “respectfully disagree with the jury’s conclusion as to the lesser claim regarding the fairness of our disciplinary review process” and are continuing to explore “legal options.”