After years of court proceedings, the Montgomery County public school system was found not responsible for the 2015 death of a 14-year-old Gaithersburg High School student, who died after an asthma attack in physical education class.
On Friday, a month shy of the fourth anniversary of Taylor Walton’s death, Montgomery County Judge Nelson Rupp ruled that neither the local school board nor its employees was negligent in caring for her or was responsible for her death.
“It’s an absolute tragedy what happened. … It just breaks your heart,” Rupp said during a court hearing Friday. “… The bottom line is, giving the plaintiff the benefit of all of the evidence that’s been submitted, even in the light most favorable, there’s no evidence that would permit a jury to conclude there was a standard of care … that was breached that caused (Taylor’s) death.”
The case was expected to go to trial this month. Georgia Grant-Walton, Taylor’s mother, was seeking more than $20 million in damages.
On Nov. 30, 2015, Taylor was in P.E. class, participating in “station” exercises, in which students participated in various exercises like walking, running and doing push-ups or sit-ups.
A video, submitted to court records and described by Rupp on Friday, showed Taylor participating, occasionally raising her arms above her head or leaning on a friend. Eventually, Taylor left the class. Shortly after, she was found lying unconscious in the hallway outside the gym.
Gaithersburg High School’s staff administered CPR and first aid and called for an ambulance, according to court documents. Taylor was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital about 4 miles away.
It was Taylor’s first semester back in public school, according to Rupp. She had been home schooled by her mother following her father’s death six years prior.
In 2017, Grant-Walton filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court alleging the P.E. teachers, Karen Philbin and Jeffrey Rabberman, denied Taylor’s requests to get her inhaler from her gym locker before she collapsed.
In her lawsuit, Grant-Walton said MCPS’ staff failed to provide “reasonable care” to protect her daughter from harm and teachers “falsely imprisoned” Taylor by denying her access to her inhaler. Additionally, she alleges the Board of Education failed to properly train the staff about how to identify and treat asthma-related medical issues...
