Teacher Loses Rabbit Phobia Case
Now this is puzzling. Spiegel Online reports:
A German teacher has lost a defamation suit Tuesday in which she claims that a 16-year-old student spread vicious rumors saying that she has a rabbit phobia. The court case, which triggered nationwide headlines, was dismissed on the grounds that the student proved the teacher’s phobia as fact.
You might think that if you actually had a rabbit phobia– one so severe that your cried at the sight of a rabbit drawn on the chalkboard or at the sound of the word rabbit, as was the case here– that you wouldn’t sue a student for defamation because it could be so easily shown that you did in fact have rabbit phobia.
But not only did the teacher–referred to as Marion V.–sue this student (Kim), she had brought a suit previously.
The teacher has been dogged by her supposed rabbit phobia for years. V. settled a similar suit she brought against a student in 2008, in which the student agreed to stop spreading rumors that V. started crying or went into fits every time she saw a rabbit or heard the animal’s name, the court said in a statement.
A lawsuit seems like an odd way to handle this. And yes, the student has been under stress because of it. Yet, it’s hard not to feel sorry in a way for the teacher. So there’s no drawing of a rabbit with this post. It just seems kind of mean.
H/T: Slatest Edition
