“She was visibly shaken every day at lunch.” The lawsuit also claims the girls told Mallory Grossman to kill herself. The lawsuit says four girls in Mallory Grossman's class, identified in the paperwork by random initials, refused to let her sit at their lunch tables and told her she had no friends. The lunchroom figures prominently in the claim because that is where Dianne Grossman claims her daughter came face to face with her bullies. MALLORY'S ARMY: In the year since Mallory Grossman died, her mother has raised an army to fight bullyingĭISTRICT RESPONSE: Rockaway Township district denies ignoring bullying linked to girl's suicideĪccording to the lawsuit, Gonnella said Mallory should go home because the school wasn’t a “safe environment.” He then, the suit reads, offered her a poker chip meant to encourage her to go “all in” as far as solving the problem. LAWSUIT FILED: Parents of Mallory Grossman file lawsuit against Rockaway Township, Board of Ed Gonnella, met with the Grossmans and Mallory, and advised that he agreed that Mallory should not remain at school that day as she was ‘not safe,’ ” according to the lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Morris County.

“On the day of her death, school officials, including Alfonzo A. The harshest accusations are leveled at the school’s principal, Alfonso Gonella, who Nagel said put the onus on the child when things came to a head. The district's only response was a letter posted to its website last year that read: “The allegation that the Rockaway Township School District ignored the Grossman family and failed to address bullying in general, is categorically false.' The lawsuit 'She was left completely unprotected by those who, by law, are required to protect her,” said the Grossmans’ attorney, Bruce Nagel of the Roseland-based law firm Nagel Rice.ĭianne Grossman said the suit goes after everyone who failed in that duty so that no one else has to “walk in her shoes.”

Many of the adults in Mallory Grossman’s life failed to provide a safe space for her and failed to act on her behalf, according to the suit. Seth and Dianne Grossman said the lawsuit names everyone they blame for “doing nothing” to stop the daily harassment and bullying that drove their 12-year-old, Copeland Middle School sixth-grade daughter to suicide.

ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP - One year after middle school student Mallory Grossman died by suicide, her parents filed a lawsuit that casts a wide net, naming as defendants the school district, the township, school administrators, teachers, school nurses, librarians and lunchroom aides.

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