By Greg Forester / Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — The Board of Education won’t have to pay $1.5 million to a former student who said she developed an eating disorder and other physical problems because of abuse from her basketball coach.
Last week, a state appeals court upheld a judge’s decision to strip the award from Jennifer Besler, who received the award in March 2004 after a months-long trial. In the original case, Ms. Besler said that she developed an eating disorder and other problems following abuse she received in 1995 from her basketball coach, Daniel Hussong.
She sued the coach and school district officials for damages.
The case went to trial for five months, and ended when the jury found Mr. Hussong liable for negligence, reckless infliction of emotional distress and extreme and outrageous conduct and awarded Ms. Besler $1.5 million. The trial judge overturned the award a week later, on the basis that Ms. Besler failed to prove she sustained permanent damage, as required by state tort law for monetary awards.
The Besler family and their attorneys appealed, resulting in the Aug. 28 Appellate Division ruling that upheld the earlier decision in denying an award to Ms. Besler.
”This is a dark day for women and their ability to succeed in sports,” said Dan Fleming, an attorney for the Besler family.
But the appellate court upheld the award of a total of $445,000 in attorney’s fees, pre-judgment issue, and emotional distress to Jennifer’s father, Philip Besler. Mr. Besler alleged that Lester Bynum, then the Board of Education president, violated his free speech rights when Mr. Bynum gaveled him into silence at a board meeting.
An attorney for the school system, Sharon Moore, said district officials were pleased with the affirmation of the decision to overturn the $1.5 million that nearly went to Ms. Besler, although the district intended to appeal to the court to take one more look at Mr. Besler’s free speech case.
The Besler family also intends to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court, on the basis of perceived flaws in the earlier decisions and some of the court proceedings, according Mr. Fleming.
Specifically, Mr. Fleming questioned the overturning of the award by the original trial judge, Paulette Sapp-Peterson, following a five-month trial and months of work by the jury, in coming to a verdict.
”They unanimously agreed that Jennifer Besler was abused and entitled to damages,” said Mr. Fleming. “You don’t hoodwink a jury when they’ve been there for five months.”
Mr. Fleming said experts, including a pediatrician and an endocrinologist, testified that Ms. Besler sustained permanent physical damage from the abuse she received at High School South, but the trial judge ignored that testimony in overturning the original $1.5 million award.

