Remember back in late 2024 when an Evans Middle School coach decided the best way to instill “team spirit” was to force a group of middle schoolers to bear crawl and crab walk for a mile on a track that was literally 125 degrees? You know, the kind of temperature where you can fry an egg, or in this case, the skin off a child’s palms? Well, good news for everyone who loves a lack of accountability: a federal judge just tossed the lawsuit against Lubbock ISD into the trash.
Judge James Wesley Hendrix didn’t mince words, calling the coach’s actions “brutal and excessive,” which is legal-speak for “this was a scene from a low-budget horror movie.” But here’s the kicker: thanks to the glorious legal labyrinth of the Lone Star State, you can’t sue the school district for your kid’s third-degree burns if Texas law says you should just sue the individual teacher instead. It’s the “don’t look at us, we just hired her” defense, and it worked like a charm.
The court basically told the parents they had a “litigation strategy” problem. See, they wanted to hold the district responsible for failing to supervise their staff, but the judge pointed out that they should have gone after the coach personally. It’s a classic Texas bait-and-switch: why sue the entity with the multi-million dollar budget when you can try to squeeze medical expenses out of a former middle school coach who resigned and likely has a net worth of three Starbucks gift cards and a whistle?
So, while these girls are left with medical bills and some truly traumatic memories of the “Lubbock Heat,” LISD gets to walk away with a clean slate and a “dismissed with prejudice” ruling. The district is officially off the hook, and the case is closed forever. It’s a heartwarming West Texas tale where the only things that actually got burned were the kids and the plaintiffs’ legal fees.
At least we know the track at Evans is high-quality; it holds heat better than a cast-iron skillet and an LISD administrator’s sense of shame.
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/lawsuit-over-cheerleader-burns-against-lubbock-isd-dismissed
