School District’s Insurer Settles Pep Rally Beating Case For $10.5M

The Kern High School District agreed Wednesday to pay $10.5 million to a former student injured in a violent dog pile that broke out during a 2010 Bakersfield High School pep rally, cutting short an ongoing civil trial that threatened to cost the district’s insurance company even more money. The student, Mitch Carter, will use that money for healthcare-related costs, his trial attorney Nicholas Rowley said during a press conference outside Kern County Superior Court. A jury had already found the district liable for Carter’s injuries, which his lawyers said included brain damage.