Jury awards family $5 million and says football coach’s actions caused their son’s suicide

BOSTON (AP) – The family of a teenager who died by suicide received $5.4 million this week after a jury found that his football coach and several school principals were negligent in their response before his death 15-year-old.

Nathan Bruno committed suicide in 2018 after his family alleged that Ryan Moniz, then the football coach at Portsmouth High School, pressured the boy to reveal the names of other students involved in sending harassing text messages and phone calls to the coach. The family also claims that Moniz pressured the players into giving Bruno their names.

On Wednesday, the jury found that Moniz was negligent and that his actions caused Bruno’s suicide, meaning he alone was responsible for the jury’s award, which was to be paid by the school district. The boy’s father, Richard Bruno, declined to comment Friday on the jury’s decision. Moniz did not immediately respond to a message sent to his school email.

This isn’t the first time a school district has been charged after a student took his own life. Utah school district in 2023 agreed to pay $2 million the family of a black, autistic 10-year-old girl who committed suicide after being bullied by her classmates.

Bruno’s suicide led the School Committee to remove Moriz as football coach, even though he is still listed as a teacher on the district’s website. The Rhode Island Legislature passed a bill named in Bruno’s honor in 2021 that requires all public school districts to adopt suicide prevention policies and train school staff in suicide awareness and prevention.

The lawsuit filed by Bruno’s family alleges that the coach, the city of Portsmouth and several school principals “breached their duties” to Bruno, which “caused him mental and emotional distress” in the weeks before his death. They claim that the defendants failed to tell Bruno’s parents about the police investigation into his case, transferred him to a different physical education class without informing his parents, allowed Moriz to pressure him and failed to meet with the student who offered to apologize for making the calls.

Jamestown Detective Derek Carlino, who investigated the case after Moniz filed the complaint, was also accused of sharing confidential police information about Bruno with Moniz. A jury found that the former principal and vice-principal of Portsmouth High School and Carlino were negligent.

“It was just a total failure to put pressure on the boy,” Peter Cerilli, who represented the parents with John Foley, told The Providence Journal. “Basically there was abuse from the coach.”

“We have tremendous respect for Judge Licht and the jury system,” Marc DeSisto, who represented the city, told The Associated Press on Friday. “Fundamental legal issues remain pending before the Supreme Court and potentially the Supreme Court of Rhode Island that impact the decision of whether someone should be held responsible for another person’s suicide.”

Melody Alger, who represented Carlino and Jamestown, said her clients were “grateful” they were not found guilty of Bruno’s death.

“While Detective Carlino and the City of Jamestown were disappointed with the finding of negligence, my clients are pleased that they prevailed and grateful that the jury agreed that the Jamestown defendants did not cause the tragic death of Nathan Bruno,” she said in a statement.

The jury awarded the family $3.1 million, which with interest from the boy’s death will rise to $5.4 million.