Former Teacher Receives $75,000 Settlement After Showing Up Drunk for Elementary School Field Trip

A former teacher from Wisconsin just received a $75,000 settlement after showing up drunk for an elementary school field trip in 2013.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Ideally, if you happen to get too intoxicated, you don't end up passed out on the floor of a bowling alley bathroom. If you do, though, you don't want to be on the news for it. Maria Caya wasn't so lucky. When Caya was found passed out inside a bowling alley in 2013, she was on the job—and get this—she was an elementary school teacher on a field trip with students. But somehow, it's not all bad news for Caya, as her local city council just voted to pay her a $75,000 settlement stemming from the incident.

Back in June 2013, Caya showed up to an elementary school field trip at a bowling alley in Janesville, Wisconsin, according to the Washington Post. Shortly after she arrived, the other teachers realized that Caya was hammered. Even after showing up drunk—she had reportedly been drinking since early that morning—she tried to order more drinks from the bowling alley bar before disappearing. Eventually, she was found passed out in the bathroom. After another staff member took her to the hospital, doctors found that Caya had a blood alcohol level of 0.27, which is more than three times the legal limit. 

About a month after the incident, Caya ​resigned from her teaching job, which came with a salary of more than $60,000, according to WXOW. While Caya was never charged with a crime, the city made her BAC public and Caya's story was soon being read around the world. Saying that her intoxication level was private medical information and shouldn't have been released publicly, she sued the city for $5.5 million, according to Fox 6 in Milwaukee.

On Monday, the Janesville City Council voted to approve a $75,000 settlement to Caya. According to WKOW, the money will come from the city's liability insurance fund, rather than from taxpayers. Instead of taking the $5.5 million lawsuit to court, the City Attorney Wald Klimczyk said the council settled to avoid having to spend more for legal defense, and they won't have to admit any liability for Caya's situation. 

To recap: A teacher got wasted on a field trip, which made the news, so she sued the district, which made the news. Then, she accepted a $75,000 settlement, which also made the news. A pretty bizarre sequence of events, to say the least.

Latest in Life