Amid student death lawsuit, Latin School sues insurance provider

CHICAGO — The Latin School of Chicago — the prestigious school in the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood — is suing Liberty Mutual, alleging that the insurance provider won’t fully pay for the attorneys defending the school in a separate lawsuit filed earlier this year by the parents of a student who died by suicide.

Latin filed suit against Liberty Mutual earlier this week in U.S. District Court, claiming that “Liberty has refused to pay the full cost of Latin’s legal expenses, instead asserting that Liberty is responsible to pay Latin’s legal expenses only to the extent that Latin’s counsel charged rates equal to or lower than Liberty’s panel counsel rates.”

Latin further alleged that “the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.”

The legal expenses are a result of a lawsuit filed against Latin six months ago by the parents of Nathan Bronstein, a 15-year-old Latin student who took his own life in January. His parents allege that he died by suicide only after he was bullied and “tormented on a regular basis” by other students at Latin. School administrators were aware of their son’s treatment by the other students but still failed to address it, Bronstein’s parents allege in their lawsuit.

Six Latin employees, including the Head of School, and the parents of five Latin students were also named as defendants. The parents of those students work as the managing director of a private equity firm, a real estate investor, the chief financial officer of a business consulting firm, an executive at a global airline and a wealth manager.

Student tuition at Latin ranges from $36,000 per year from junior kindergarten through fourth grade, and $41,000 per year from fifth grade through twelfth grade, according to the school. The Forum, Latin’s student-run newspaper, previously reported that that school took in more than $40 million from tuition payments in 2019.

That case brought by the Bronstein family is still pending in Cook County Circuit Court and the defendants have moved to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Representatives for Liberty Mutual and the Latin School both declined to comment on Latin’s new filing. An attorney for the Bronstein family did not respond to a request for comment.