A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the assistant principal who struck a female student during a school bus altercation in north Alabama.

In a 19-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith noted that the student suffered minor injuries and that she first bit the arm of Jason Watts, the assistant principal at James Clemens High School in Madison. It happened when Watts was breaking up a fight between two students on a bus on Dec. 14, 2022.

Eric Artrip, an attorney for the student, left open the possibility of appealing the judge’s ruling.

“Our client and her parents are very disappointed in the court’s ruling,” Artrip said in a statement to AL.com. “We believe that federal law was violated when Assistant Principal Watts made the decision to retaliate for minor injuries by punching our 5-foot tall, 15-year-old girl in the face repeatedly. We strongly suspect that Mr. Watts would not have taken these actions had the student in question had been a 6-foot tall, 180-pound young man. We are currently evaluating our legal strategy based on the court’s ruling.”

Mark Boardman — an attorney for Watts and Brian Clayton, who was the principal at James Clemens at the time — did not respond to a request for comment. The judge also dismissed claims against Clayton, who is now the superintendent of Hartselle City Schools.

The incident between Watts and the student — identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit — was captured on video on the bus.

The student’s lawsuit said that another student punched her in the stomach and Watts escorted the other student from the bus. According to the lawsuit, Watts then returned to Jane Doe, and as she was trying to leave the bus, he “grabbed her wrist and pushed her back into one of the bus seats.” The lawsuit said Watts then “pushed his forearm into Jane Doe’s face forcing her head back into the seat.”

At that point, the lawsuit said, she bit Watts’ arm.

“In retaliation and apparently now at a complete loss over his emotions, Defendant Watts began punching Jane Doe in the face with a closed fist,” the lawsuit said. Watts then “punched” Jane Doe “in the head twice more,” the lawsuit said.

“While Watts’ act of hitting Jane Doe in the face was certainly inappropriate, the facts as alleged show justification for the application of corporal punishment,” the judge wrote in his opinion accompanying his order to dismiss the case. Citing another case as precedent, the judge wrote, “Watts’ conduct was a response to Jane Doe’s act of biting his arm. Additionally, as alleged in the amended complaint, the extent of Jane Doe’s injuries was minor. The court finds that consideration of the totality of circumstances leads to the conclusion that the force applied by Watts was not ‘obviously excessive’ and therefore, no constitutional violations – i.e. conduct that shocks the conscience – occurred here.”

Clayton was standing at the front of the bus when the incident between Watts and Jane Doe took place. The lawsuit asserted his failure to act violated Jane Doe’s constitutional rights. The judge said the allegations against Clayton were due to be dismissed because Jane Doe had not “alleged facts sufficient to show that a constitutional violation took place.”