Hurt student loses appeal P'burg High's Christina Lebitz blinded. Panel says district, teacher not liable for incident in hallway. Wednesday, May 10, 2006 • By SARAH CASSI• The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | A second court has cleared the Phillipsburg School District of responsibility for a May 11, 2001, act of horseplay that left a student blinded. Christina Lebitz was a 14-year-old freshman at Phillipsburg High School when Thomas Leeper Jr. threw a computer mouse ball down a second-floor hallway and hit Lebitz as she walked out of a classroom. The incident left Lebitz blind in her right eye. On Tuesday the appellate division of the New Jersey Superior Court affirmed a lower court's decision that the school district's negligence did not cause the accident and a substitute teacher supervising the class was not liable. "It was obviously expected. The board felt the jury's verdict was on solid ground," said Jeffrey Shanaberger, who represented the school district. "(The board) is obviously very pleased with the decision." The Lebitz family sued the school district and substitute teacher Roderick Lewis for negligence in March 2004. Washington attorney Leonard Artigliere and Phillipsburg attorney Scott Curzi represented the Lebitz family during the civil trial. Curzi could not be reached for comment. A jury found the school board negligent for not having a hall monitor the day of the accident, but said the negligence did not cause the accident. The jury also found Lewis was not negligent in supervising the classroom Leeper was in. The Lebitz family appealed the decision. The jury also opted to award about $1.1 million in damages to the Lebitz family and held Leeper 100 percent responsible for the damages. Leeper and his parents reached an out-of-court settlement with the Lebitz family. The district's legal fight lasted two years and two months, Shanaberger said. Reporter Sarah Cassi can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at scassi@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used with permission.