Was the action 'over the top' ?

DANBURY, Conn. (AP) — Danbury officials have been notified they are being sued by a student who was awakened in class by a teacher who made a loud noise. Documents filed with the Town Clerk, a prelude to a lawsuit, claim that a sleeping student suffered...

hearing damage when his teacher woke him up by slamming her hand down on the boy's desk in December. Attorney Alan Barry says 15-year-old Vinicios Robacher suffered pain and very severe injuries to his left eardrum when teacher Melissa Nadeau abruptly slammed the palm of her hand on his desk on Dec. 4 - Was the teacher's action 'over the top' and should the student be allowed to sleep in class ?

To me, it sounds like the student is taking it too far.

I had a Geography professor in middle school who was an avid golfer. If he caught you dozing, sleeping or even just daydreaming, he'd slam a golf club on the bottom of your desk.

That got us up- FAST. And not a single one of us has hearing damage. A hand? Please.

hell I've had teachers throw sh*t at me wheni was sleeping and I didn't care. I can't see how a female teacher slamming her hand on a desk, even if it was right next to the kids ear can cause any hearing damage, seems impossible

uh no! Students should be AWAKE and foccused in class!! The teacher had every right to slam her hand down cause the student wasn't giving full attention! If he got an ear damage to that slam then first of all he SHOULD NOT have been sleeping and that teacher must have had a srong hand!!!

It is a crazy, 'Lets see who we can get money out of' kinda world with lawsuites being filed left, right and centre.

This used to be far more common in the US but over the last 3 or 4 years this is now taking off in Britain big time with companies offerring to represent people on a no win/no fee basis.

I believe that in most instances this is a bad thing and the costs ultimately get passed down to the public via higher insurance policies etc.

Its the students fault!! you dont sleep in class!!
The teacher wasnt trying to hurt him he was being disrespectful!!!
The teachers at my school slamm big ten pound books on the desks

I agree that it was the students fault. School is a place where a kid should be learning an education, its not a place to sleep. I dont see how a hand getting slammed down on a desk would rupture or injure a kids ear. However I do think that teachers probably could try waking a child up ither after class or waking them up during class, and if the teacher cant get them up through a voice then maybe having them stay after would be a better way for some diciplary action and them giving thema consiquence for there bad behavior.

This sounds like either an internet hoax, or a frivolous lawsuit by parents that don't know the first thing about parenting because they are too busy doing other things.

the kids a spoiled brat. @ his parents are stupid! Im 16 @ kids at my school would totaley call ya a wimp for acting like that.

well I will be the odd one out and say that the teacher was an adult and should have acted in a proper manner, I could see how the teacher could have injured the child. How would you feel if it was your child with ear damage? Yes, it was wrong for the child to be sleeping, but then again who was the adult in the situation?

This sounds like one of those stories where there may be more to it than is reported.

Every story I read about the lady who sued McDonalds because the coffee scalded her made it sound like it was an egregious abuse of the legal system. ABC News even labeled the award the poster child of abusive lawsuits. McDonalds does serve much hotter coffee than other chains and was warned by their own consultants that liquid this hot could cause severe scalding if spilled and should be served cooler. The woman in the lawsuit received 3rd degree burns on 6% of her body and 2nd degree burns on 16%. She needed 8 days of hospitalization, skin graft surgery followed by 2 years of outpatient medical treatment.

The woman who sued was not trying to get rich; she only wanted $20,000 to cover her medical costs. McDonalds refused so it went on to court.

We do not know all the facts of the Danbury case. If the teacher in fact did injure the student than this may be justified. We can't just go on the sound bites the media feeds us.