A Manhattan prep school has been sued after a student fell on her rump after her classmate allegedly pulled out a chair from under her while they were playing musical chairs in 2016.
Kate Liggett, who has since graduated from York Prep high school on the Upper East Side, claims that she was injured when her classmate Ethan Levy yanked her seat out from under her.
Liggett claims she was sent crashing down to the floor and ‘sustained serious personal injuries, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, distress and medical expenses’.
She said the activity was a apart of their class Expression Through Dance, which was taught by Fiona Hutchinson.
Kate Liggett (pictured) is suing York Prep high school in Manhattan after she fell on her rump when her classmate allegedly pulled out a chair from under her while they were playing musical chairs in 2016
Liggett, who has since graduated from York Prep high school on the Upper East Side, claims that she was injured when her classmate Ethan Levy yanked her seat out from under her. She said the activity was a apart of their class Expression Through Dance
The lawsuit claims that Hutchinson ‘failed to properly educate participants’ on safely playing a game of musical chairs, according to the New York Post.
Hutchinson then forced Liggett to play despite her ‘specific request to be excused from playing,’ the suit claims.
According to the suit, the prep school, which charges tuition of nearly $50,000 a year, is also at least partly at fault because it forced Liggett to participate in the game that led to the fall.
Liggett’s lawsuit claims that York Prep created a ‘dangerous situation when it knew or should have known that the game of musical chairs as played by the students in the dance class was inappropriate for the students’.
The student alleges in the lawsuit that she had no choice but to participate in the game or face ‘disciplinary action’.
In the suit, Levy is targeted personally for recklessness and negligence in pulling the chair out from under Liggett, according to the Post.
Liggett claims she was sent crashing down to the floor and ‘sustained serious personal injuries, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, distress and medical expenses’
Lawyers for Levy and York Prep have denied, on behalf of their clients, any wrongdoing in court papers.
According to the Post, lawyers for York Prep said they shouldn’t have to pay damages because Liggett was responsible for her own actions.
The school’s lawyers said that any damages in the incident were caused by Liggett’s ‘own negligence or other culpable conduct’.
Levy’s lawyer, William Candiloros, told the Post that he needed evidence of Liggett’s injuries in answering her claims against his client.
It’s unclear how much in damages Liggett is seeking.