A recent ruling from a Superior Court judge in Massachusetts suggests that parents may have a cause of action against public school officials for their failure to protect students against bullying. The case involved a middle school student who alleged that he was subjected to repeated verbal and physical harassment by a group of students, which ultimately resulted in the student suffering a broken leg during a physical altercation. The parents and the student sued school officials claiming a violation of the student’s substantive due process rights under the Massachusetts’ Constitution. Although the judge ultimately dismissed the claim, ruling that the school officials’ conduct was not extreme enough to “shock the conscience,” the judge further acknowledged that “as a general proposition, a cause of action can, in certain circumstances, be brought directly under the [Massachusetts’] Declaration of Rights in the absence of a statutory vehicle for obtaining relief.” See Parsons, et al. v. Tewskbury, et al., Massachusetts’ Lawyer’s Weekly No. 12-002-10 (February 15, 2010).