Wayne Azzarello v. Edison Board of Education

Child sex abuse claim against Edison Township Teacher from the 1980s settles for $3,000,000.

A lawsuit against the Edison Township Board of Education due to child sexual abuse from a teacher was settled prior to trial at Middlesex County Courthouse on October 28, 2024.  The plaintiff was one of nine other known victims who were sexually abused as young teenage boys at Edison High School from 1979 through 1985 by a now-deceased woodshop teacher, Frederick Burkley.  The remaining eight cases remain pending in Middlesex County Superior Court.

Mr. Burkley abused the young students, who were mostly freshmen, after extracurricular activities at Edison High School in a small room connected to the woodshop in the high school.  He was ultimately arrested and pled guilty to charges in 1986, but not before he abused at least nine boys on dozens of occasions during this time period.

The cases were filed under a landmark law passed in New Jersey in 2019 which extended the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to pursue their rights in a civil lawsuit.

The plaintiffs claimed that Edison Township Board of Education was negligent for not providing proper supervision of Burkley and failing to implement policies and procedures that would have prevented the abuse in the school. The plaintiff in this action was represented by J. Silvio Mascolo, Esq. of Rebenack Aronow & Mascolo L.L.P. and Vincent Nappo, Esq. of Pfau Cochrane.

Mr. Mascolo, who represents eight of the nine plaintiffs, told the New Jersey Law Journal the cases were consolidated for mediation in a recent feature on the case, “$3M Settlement Reached on Day of Trial as 8 Other Claimants Await.” Read the full article here.