The parents of a student, who developed a vision impairment, sued the Mullica Township Board of Education (“Board”) under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act (“TCA”) for the school nurse’s failure to inform them that the student failed a visual acuity test during the 2001-2002 school year. In 2004, the student again failed the test. At that time, the school nurse notified the parents of the results of both tests. On August 17, 2016, New Jersey Supreme Court in Parsons v. Mullica Township Board of Education, _N.J._(2016) ruled that the TCA immunized the Board, as a public entity, from liability because reporting the results of the tests are part of a preventative public health examination.
N.J.S.A. 59:6-4 of the TCA shields public entities from liability for failing to perform an adequate physical or mental examination for the purposes of determining whether the individual has a disease or physical or mental condition. What tests are considered “examinations” under the TCA? Is the reporting process part of an examination? The New Jersey Supreme Court answered these questions in its recent decision.
The Supreme Court first determined that the visual acuity test given to the student constituted a “physical examination” under the TCA. The parents’ unsuccessfully argued that they should be permitted to pursue their TCA claims on the basis that reporting the results of the test fell outside of an examination. In contrast, the Board argued that reporting the results is not separate and distinct from the examination, as contemplated by the TCA. In rejecting the parents’ argument, the Supreme Court relied upon the standards of the American Medical Association and Mayo Clinic and concluded that a complete examination as defined by the TCA includes communicating the results to the parents.
The Supreme Court also recognized the Legislature’s intent in enacting the TCA – to provide compensation to tort victims without “unduly interfering with governmental functions and without imposing an excessive burden on taxpayers.” Liability under the TCA is exception, not the rule. The TCA’s immunities provided to school districts and other public entities are absolute. Any ambiguities lean towards favoring immunity.
