New Orleans woman sues archdiocese over son’s suicide after he was expelled from school

Sara Brannon alleges high school overseen by the Roman Catholic archdiocese was negligent in treatment of her 17-year-old son A suburban New Orleans woman whose teenaged son died by suicide hours after his Catholic school expelled him in the wake of what he termed a shoving match with a campus bully is pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against the local archdiocese. Sara Brannon contends that Rummel high school in Metairie, Louisiana, was negligent in its treatment of her son, 17-year-old Devon Shelton, and is therefore owed damages, including for mental anguish as well as physical pain and suffering. New Orleans’s Roman Catholic archdiocese, which oversees Rummel, declined comment on Brannon’s lawsuit after it was submitted in state court on Tuesday ahead of a one-year filing deadline. A statement from an institution spokesperson cited a policy against commenting on pending litigation, though it did add: “We hold Devon’s family and friends, particularly his parents, in prayer.” As recounted in his mother’s lawsuit, Shelton’s death alludes to the association among bullying, depression and suicide-related behaviors that researchers say has been established by several p