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The Brooklawn Middle School is located on Beachwood Road, near Littleton Road in Parsippany.

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PARSIPPANY — A Parsippany mother has filed a lawsuit against the board of education, claiming the Brooklawn Middle School's "negligence" in having students play touch football on a wet field during an early-morning gym class resulted in her daughter suffering a "permanent" ankle injury.

The girl, 13-year-old Kaileigh Morgan, required surgery that inserted plates and screws in her left foot after she suffered a “shattered ankle,” according to the family’s attorney, Christopher Musmanno.

Kaileigh, a seventh-grader, will “never have flexibility” in that ankle and may walk with a limp for the rest of her life, the attorney said.

Kathy Morgan’s lawsuit says that when the accident occurred on Oct. 24, Lauren Satch, Kaileigh’s gym teacher, had been taking her first-period class outside to play touch football for two-and-a-half weeks, even though she knew the grass field was “wet and slippery” and “multiple students” had fallen, sustaining minor injuries.

At about 8:45 a.m., Kaileigh was carrying the ball and was being chased by another student when she “tried to cut” and slipped and fell, “seriously injuring” her left ankle, the suit says.

School officials “knew or should have known” that playing a “contact sport” such as touch football on a wet, slippery surface “could foreseeably result” in an injury, according to the suit.

Each student’s shoes were “soaking wet” and the grass had not been cut for several days, the suit charges.

Kaileigh “won’t be able to run or do any other physical thing for the rest of her life,” Musmanno said. Although she no longer requires crutches, “she’s walking slowly, with a limp,” he added.

The suit, made public today in Superior Court in Morristown, names as defendants the school, the board of education and Satch, along with the township of Parsippany because it was allegedly responsible for cutting the grass.

Interim Superintendent Vincent Aniello said school officials will have “no comment” on the suit because it’s a “confidential matter.”

Township Attorney John Inglesino said the township has not cut the grass at the field for at least seven years, so it has no liability in this lawsuit and probably won't be involved in it for long.

"This is an unfortunate injury, but one that occurred on school property, during school and during class," Inglesino said.

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