A jury in Middlesex County, New Jersey, ordered a school district to pay $500,000 to a former student who claimed administrators failed to protect him from a classmate’s homophobic bullying.

The jury awarded $400,000 in emotional distress damages and $100,000 for physical injuries to Hugh McCabe Tuesday in his suit against the Monroe Township School District, after a two-week trial before Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas.

R. Armen McOmber of McOmber, McOmber & Luber. Courtesy photo