LAUSD Rejects Dismissal of Lawsuit Over Student’s Fentanyl Overdose

LOS ANGELES—A judge has rejected a request from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to completely or partially dismiss a lawsuit initiated by the mother of a 15-year-old girl who tragically died from a drug overdose in a high school restroom in 2022, determining that there are significant issues for a jury to consider.

The lawsuit filed by plaintiff Elena Perez in Los Angeles Superior Court claims that Bernstein High School officials were aware of ongoing drug use problems at the Hollywood campus yet failed to take measures that might have saved her daughter, Melanie Ramos. According to the coroner’s report, Melanie passed away from an accidental fentanyl overdose on September 13, 2022.

In previously submitted court documents to Judge Lisa R. Jaskol, LAUSD attorneys argued that the administration at Bernstein High did not neglect Perez or her daughter, asserting that both the district and its administrators are immune from Perez’s allegations.

However, in her ruling on Monday denying LAUSD’s motion, the judge noted that multiple medical emergencies associated with drug use had occurred at the Bernstein campus from 2013 to the fall semester of 2022, including three such incidents that happened just six months prior to Melanie’s death.

A witness reported seeing students using drugs like percocet and xanax in the bathrooms at Bernstein before Ramos’ passing, the judge added.

In their legal arguments, LAUSD attorneys acknowledged the challenges of being a high school principal, asserting that it is unreasonable to expect any administrator to guarantee that students will never face harm. They stated, “That sort of 20-20 hindsight is not reasonable.”

According to LAUSD’s attorneys, Principal Alejandro Ramirez and Assistant Principal Andrew Kasek implemented a strategy that involved monitoring hallways, restrooms, and the quad area, with Ramirez also having a particular approach to address student absenteeism. Nonetheless, it is documented that Melanie and a friend used fentanyl inside a bathroom stall in the quad, per the statements made by district lawyers.

“It remains uncontested that no employee of the school district was aware that [Melanie] and her friend planned to purchase illegal drugs, nor was there any knowledge that they would later consume those substances in a bathroom stall,” the district attorneys asserted in their court documents.

According to Kasek, he did not consider a locked bathroom door in the late afternoon at the end of the school day to represent a safety issue when he patrolled the quad area on the day of Melanie’s death, with Melanie’s body discovered around 8:30 p.m. in the girls’ quad restroom by a custodian.

Kasek usually had a female aide accompany him on patrols when possible, but he was alone on that occasion, as indicated by the LAUSD legal filings.

Although Melanie’s friend exhibited signs of an overdose, she survived the incident. Shortly thereafter, authorities announced the arrest of a teenage boy alleged to have sold the drugs to the two students on the Bernstein campus, while a second boy was apprehended for reportedly selling drugs to another student in the nearby Lexington Park area.

Former Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore confirmed that both suspects were students at APEX Academy charter school, located on the same campus as Bernstein High School.

The incident also led the district to announce that all its campuses would be equipped with Narcan, an anti-overdose medication. Subsequently, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 10 into law, known as Melanie’s Law, which mandates public schools to provide training for staff on opioid prevention strategies and increase awareness of fentanyl dangers.

Perez filed suit against the district for negligence and wrongful death in December 2022. A trial for the case is set to commence on April 2, 2025.