School district, 3 teachers cleared in teen’s death

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

The Clark County School District and three teachers are not responsible for the death of a teenager who collapsed at a Henderson middle school five years ago.

In a 7-1 decision, a Clark County jury decided Tuesday that the school district and three of its teachers acted appropriately when Kimberly Curtis, 13, collapsed at White Middle School on Feb. 22, 1995.

Ruth and George Curtis had asked the jury to award them slightly more than $3 million, alleging their daughter died because the district hadn't trained any of its teachers cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Robert Murdock, who represented the Curtis family, said he plans to appeal.

However, Murdock stressed that the lawsuit, which was filed in 1996, was never about the money. It was about getting the law changed so that teachers would have to become CPR certified.

That law was signed in 1997 by then-Gov. Bob Miller.

"We won that," Murdock said. "The Curtises worked hard on that, and they should be proud. This was the gravy, and it didn't work out. At least, it didn't work out for now."

Murdock said he believes District Judge Michael Douglas erred when he told jurors they had to find that the teachers and the school district showed gross negligence, not just negligence.

During his closing arguments Monday Murdock told jurors that four minutes went by before a school nurse was summoned and began CPR.

Defense attorney Blair Parker, however, said only 68 seconds went by before help arrived.

And, while teachers weren't required to be CPR-certified back then, the teachers in the Kimberly Curtis case -- Kim Jefferson, Richard Ebarb and Laura Frisbie -- were certified, Parker said. However, they did not perform CPR on the girl because they were trained not to if the unconscious person appears to be breathing.

The girl seemed to be breathing, Parker said.