Jury awards $1.8 million to family of Bernalillo High School student

BERNALILLO — A local jury recently awarded $1.8 million to the family of a former Bernalillo High School student who was badly beaten by another student nearly two years ago.

Jurors handed down the sum Wednesday to the student’s parents, Richard and Valerie Ortiz, following a six-day trial, July 23-30, in the 13th Judicial District Court of Sandoval County, according to Albuquerque-based attorney Paul Melendres, who represents the family. The verdict came less than two weeks before Bernalillo Public School students begin instruction Aug. 11.

“I think the jury recognized that the school failed to follow their own policies on student safety,” said Melendres, speaking on behalf of the family, who declined an interview. “This family brought this lawsuit (because) they don’t want this to ever happen to anyone else (and) their minor child still suffers significant medical issues from this attack.”

Although the jury ruled in favor of the family for their claims under the state's Tort Claims Act — including that BPS and its employees were negligent — it ruled that the school district did not violate Valerie Ortiz's right to equal protection under the state constitution.

Further, the family is expected to receive only around $800,000 under the cap for public institutions under the state's Tort Claims Act.

This money will go toward the student’s care following the assault in a BHS hallway on Oct. 11, 2023, according to Melendres. The student, now 17, has since transferred to Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho for her senior year, Melendres said.

“To say the least, this trial was incredibly traumatic for the child, but she had the courage to go through with this because of her desire to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Melendres said. “They (the family) feel as though justice was done.”

The trial included testimony from BHS Principal Alyssa Sanchez-Padilla, whom the family argued tried to convince a school resource officer to exclude information in a report about past instances of the student being bullied or knowledge about the episodes. BPS Superintendent Matt Montaño, as well as other school and security officials, also testified.

In response to the Observer’s request for comment, Bernalillo Public Schools issued a statement, which read, “First and foremost, we want to express our deepest sympathy to the Ortiz family. The well-being and safety of every student is, and must always be, our highest priority.”

“As a district, we take the jury’s verdict seriously,” the statement read. “While we are still reviewing the details of the decision with our legal counsel, we remain committed to fostering safe, respectful learning environments where all students feel supported and protected.”

Melendres responded in an interview that he hopes the school district follows its own statement.

He shared with the Observer the same Snapchat video and text messages surrounding the 2023 attack that were shown to the jury in hopes that the public understands the incident in its entirety.

The attacking student, known in court records as A.B., stalked and harassed the family’s daughter with threats of physical violence, to which the now-Cleveland student responded she would press charges if anything happened, according to texts.

Melendres said he did not provide to the jury a motive for the assault.

The recorded incident involved the family’s daughter being assaulted by A.B., who grabbed the victim by the hair, pulled her down to the ground, and repeatedly punched her in the head before she lost consciousness.

The grainy, 41-second video with no sound begins by showing the student’s legs and torso being pulled to the floor by a figure obscured by other students.

The video then reveals the attacking student punching the family’s daughter in the head multiple times as the victimized student defends herself by grabbing the attacker’s shirt and attempting to kick her away.

It is not until 30 seconds into the video that a male student rushes to the scene to grab the assailant by the abdomen to pull her away from the family’s daughter.

As the male student escorts the attacking student away from the scene, a female student — an 18-year-old — walks around the family’s daughter and walks toward the male student, placing her hand on his arm and appearing to speak with him.

The male student then walks over to the family’s daughter and kneels down to comfort her as she is lying on the floor covering her face, which is never shown in the video.

At 46 seconds into the film, an adult enters the frame but does not seem to notice the victimized student at first. The adult then looks down at the family’s daughter while placing her hand on the male student in a supportive gesture. The video ends with the adult looking back at the assaulting student and raising her hand, seemingly to indicate she would like to speak to her.

Claims made in the family’s complaint stated that BHS employees did nothing to intervene during the attack and the 18-year-old tried to stop the male student from intervening.

“When you see this (video), you know what happened,” Melendres said.