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Suing Over Bad Grades

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If you think you got an unfairly bad grade, can you sue? A Federal court in Texas has an answer.

When two students at Texas Southern University School of Law got D minuses, they studied harder for their next exam. Just kidding. They sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent hiring among other claims.

The interesting thing about the case of students who sued for bad grades is that they are not alone. There have been several cases based on grades, like the 15-year-old in Bath County, Ohio, who sued her teachers for lowering her grades because of absences or the 17-year-old in California who recently sued because he got a c+ in Chemistry. I'd a killed for a C+ in Chemistry. On the flip side, a California football player sued because he was denied a quality education when his teachers raised his grades to allow him to play football.

The Supreme Court has looked at grading cases and has said that it will generally not second guess a school's decision unless it can be demonstrated that those at the school did not actually exercise professional judgment.

As for the law students, a Federal court just threw out their claim; they lost - although I must say they actually do seem fully capable of becoming annoying lawyers.

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