Board blames student for punch injury

LONDON, Ontario, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A Canadian school board denies any liability in a schoolyard fight last year in which a boy's single punch fractured an 11-year-old student's skull.

The family of Raymond Trudell is suing the London District Catholic School Board in southwestern Ontario for $3.7 million, alleging the boy required three steel plates to be placed in his head. The suit contends he still suffers from headaches, short-term memory loss, fatigue, nausea and dizziness and has lost some fine motor skills after the Sept. 23 incident, the London Free Press reported.

The board claims in its statement of defense Trudell had "deliberately provoked" and was "verbally abusing" a 12-year-old boy when he was hit, and said his injuries were not a result of the school's negligence.

The board has also filed a contingent lawsuit against the boy accused of throwing the punch to cover any damages the board might be ordered to pay, the report said. That boy has been charged with aggravated assault.

Trudell has since moved to a public school, and continues to receive medical attention, the newspaper said.