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Jury awards $5 million to family, saying football coach’s actions led to their son’s suicide

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — The family of a teenager who died by suicide was awarded $5.4 million this week after a jury found his football coach and several school administrators were negligent before the 15-year-old’s death.

Nathan Bruno took his own life in 2018 after his family alleged that then-Portsmouth High School football coach Ryan Moniz pressured the boy to reveal the names of other students who had been involved in harassing text messages and phone calls to the coach . The family also claims that Moniz football player pressured Bruno to name the names.

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

It’s not the first time a school district has been ordered to pay after a student takes their own life. A Utah school district agreed in 2023 to pay $2 million to the family of a Black, autistic 10-year-old girl who killed herself after being molested by her classmates.

Bruno’s suicide led the school committee to replace Moriz as football coach, although he is still listed as a teacher on the district’s website. The Rhode Island legislature passed a law 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 accuses the coach, the city of Portsmouth and several school administrators of “breaching their duties” to Bruno, which caused him “mental and emotional distress” in the weeks before his death. They say the defendants failed to inform Bruno’s parents about a police investigation involving him, placed him in a different sports class without telling his parents, allowed Moriz to put pressure on him and failed to do so to meet with the student who offered to apologize for the calls.

Jamestown Detective Derek Carlino, who investigated the case after Moniz filed the complaint, was also accused of passing confidential police information about Bruno to Moniz. The jury found a former principal and assistant principal at Portsmouth High School and Carlino negligent.

“It was just a complete failure to pressure a boy,” Peter Cerilli, who represented the parents along with John Foley, told the Providence Journal. “There was basically bullying from the coach.”

“We have a lot of respect for Judge Licht and the jury system,” Marc DeSisto, who represented the city, told The Associated Press on Friday. “There are still fundamental legal questions before the Supreme Court, and potentially the Rhode Island Supreme Court, 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” not to be held responsible for Bruno’s death.

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

The jury awarded the family $3.1 million, which would increase to $5.4 million with interest since the boy’s death.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.