Cement Company Negligence Charge Dismissed in Florida Teen Suicide Suit

A judge in Florida has tossed a portion of a lawsuit that alleged negligence against a cement company in the death of a 12-year-old central Florida girl who committed suicide after being bullied.

Rebecca Sedwick jumped to her death from a silo at Cemex Construction near Lakeland, Fla., in 2013. Circuit Judge John Radabaugh wrote in a recent decision that the company wasn’t at fault.

The Ledger of Lakeland reports the child’s mother Tricia Norman filed the lawsuit against the company and the Polk County School board last year. Her lawyer claimed the fence around the site was in disrepair, allowing unrestricted access.

“There are no allegations that there existed a trap, a hidden condition or an otherwise unreasonably dangerous condition on the property that caused the decedent’s injuries,” Radabaugh wrote in a recent decision.

The lawsuit against the school board remains, with mediation scheduled for June.

The family and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office blame bullying by the girl’s former classmates for her suicide.