YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
WOIO - CBS 19 [Cleveland OH]
November 25, 2025
By Zach Mosca
YOUNGSTOWN – A fourth lawsuit has been filed against Ursuline High School, this time accusing the school of failing to prevent an assault on a student in the school cafeteria.
The allegations in the latest suit stem from an incident in April of 2024 involving a 14-year-old freshman female student.
According to the suit, one of the victim’s friends told her that one of her ex-friends was telling students that she planned to fight her during lunch the following day.
Later that night, the ex-friend texted the victim directly, telling her that she was going to fight her the next day and the victim told her mother, according to the suit.
From there, the suit states that the mother contacted the school’s guidance counselor Louise Kotel to alert her of the fight. The suit states that Kotel responded about an hour later with her reply, which read:
“Good evening. Thank you for letting me know. I also let administration know. I will check in with [alleged victim] first thing in the morning.”
The next day, Kotel allegedly told the victim’s mother that she had informed Assistant Principal Margaret Damore, as well as “administration and teachers” about this matter, and that “they were on standby.”
Furthermore, the suit alleges that the victim’s friend also went to Kotel’s office to make sure she alerted Damore of the upcoming fight, which she did, according to the suit.
From there, the suit alleges that both the victim and the ex-friend were called to the guidance office separately, with the victim telling Kotel that she wasn’t going to engage in the fight.
According to the suit, this prompted a social media post from the ex-friend accusing the victim of “snitching.” When the victim asked why she would post that, the ex-friend allegedly screamed at her to “fight [her] now,” followed by a teacher telling her to stop.
From there, lunch period came and the fight happened without any teachers or administrative staff stepping in to prevent it, according to the suit.
The suit alleges that during the fight, the ex-friend slammed the alleged victim’s head into the wall, threw her to the ground and punched and assaulted her repeatedly, causing serious injuries.
The suit alleges that only after all of this did any administrators step in and escort the ex-friend to the office. However, no teachers or administrators came to the victim’s aid and students had to help her and escort her to the bathroom, according to the suit.
According to the suit, the victim was “dazed, confused and experiencing memory loss.” The suit further alleges that the victim was experiencing symptoms of a concussion.
The suit further alleges that when the victim’s friend came back from the bathroom, Damore yelled at her for not being at lunch, and when she explained why she wasn’t, she only replied, “Mind your own business.”
According to the suit, the victim was then escorted to the office by Damore, but she never called the victim’s mother about the fight, with the mother only finding out through the victim’s friends.
From there, the suit alleges that the victim was placed in a room alone while she awaited her mom’s arrival.
“Despite [the victim] displaying obvious signs of a concussion, neither Damore nor any other school official called for medical attention. Despite Ursuline employing a school nurse, the nurse didn’t immediately check on [the victim,]” the suit reads
When the victim’s mom got to the school, she allegedly asked Damore how the fight could have happened if she had notified the administration and teachers as Kotel said, and Damore allegedly replied that she only told two teachers, neither of whom was responsible for overseeing lunch.
Furthermore, Damore allegedly told the victim’s mom that she was held up in a meeting and could not be in the cafeteria when the fight was planned.
“In other words, Damore confessed that she wasn’t where she was supposed to be to prevent the attack,” the suit reads.
Ultimately, the ex-friend was suspended for five days as a result of the fight, according to the suit. Meanwhile, the suit alleges the victim had to miss two weeks of school due to a concussion and fear of returning.
In the days following, the suit alleges that the victim’s mother contact the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, who were originally sympathetic, but their tune allegedly changed when the mother said she would be contacting an attorney.
A few days after that, the suit alleges that the mother had requested changes to be made to protect the victim from future attacks, and filed a complaint against Damore with Safer Schools Ohio after that request was not honored.
Ursuline Principal Matthew Sammartino allegedly asked the mother to withdraw that complaint when he learned of it, and when the mother asked why, Sammartino allegedly replied, “Never mind.”
“[The] Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and Ursuline High School failed to train, supervise and discipline Damore about how to properly address, investigate and
prevent student violence and all the other misconduct described [in this incident,]” the suit reads.
This is the fourth lawsuit filed against Ursuline High School by attorney Subodh Chandra, and is the first of the bunch not to involve the football players or coaches in any way.
Previous suits filed alleged incidents of bullying, hazing and sexual assault among members of the football team, as well as the bullying of a gay student by members of the team.
21 News has reached out to Ursuline High School and the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown for comment on the latest lawsuit and we’re waiting to hear back.
In the meantime, you can read much more about all of Ursuline’s previous lawsuits in our related coverage below.
Ursuline School’s spokesperson issued the following statement on Tuesday afternoon:
Ursuline High School has been provided a copy of the fourth complaint, and our counsel is reviewing the claims contained therein.
As with the previous complaints, we must allow the legal process to proceed, and we continue to be limited with what we can share publicly given the privacy issues involved and the fact that we are facing active litigation.
That said, the incidents in question were reviewed in detail at the time, and Ursuline High School is confident that all appropriate actions were taken by faculty and staff members. In particular, there is no evidence that Ursuline failed or was derelict in any of its child protection duties.
Ursuline High School and the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown look forward to presenting a vigorous defense as the claims appear to be baseless and completely without merit.
Given the sensitivity of the ongoing situation and the requirements of the legal and investigative process, we cannot comment further.