Attorneys for Madison City Schools and two school administrators have asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by a student who says an assistant principal hit her.

The lawsuit was filed in March by a female student at James Clemens High School whose name was not included and her mother, who was also not named. At issue is an altercation that happened on a bus outside the school on Dec. 14, 2022.

The lawsuit said Jason Watts, an assistant principal at the school, struck the female student multiple times in the head. Watts did so after the student bit him on the arm while he tried to break up a scuffle on the bus, according to school officials and the lawsuit. The school system released photos of the bite mark the day after the incident.

Related: Video shows assistant principal, student in altercation on Madison school bus

The school’s then-principal, Brian Clayton, stood at the front of the bus and did not intervene, the lawsuit said. Clayton has since been hired as the superintendent in Hartselle.

In a motion to dismiss filed Monday in federal court, attorneys for the school system in Madison argue that the student’s lawsuit “flagrantly misstates the altercation” and provides a “false version of events.”

The motion notes that cameras captured the altercation on school bus security video. Two videos obtained by AL.com that appear to have been captured by students near the incident on the bus appear to show a man striking a female student.

Related: Click here and here to see video of the bus altercation.

Madison City Schools Superintendent Ed Nichols, at a press conference the day after the altercation, said the administrators acted properly and would not face any discipline.

The lawsuit alleges the school system did not allow the student to return to class “for weeks” and placed her in an alternative school setting.

The motion to dismiss argues legal violations outlined in the lawsuit are without merit and also takes issue with the claims of fact in the lawsuit.

Among the points argued in the motion to dismiss:

• Claims of Title IX violations do not state discrimination against the student based on her gender as required by the law.
• The lawsuit does not state “sufficient facts to establish liability of the (school) board.”
• The lawsuit does not “plead a plausible equal protection claim” nor a “due process claim.”
• The lawsuit “does not set forth any specific physical injury suffered by the plaintiff other than a temporary headache” despite claims in the lawsuit that the plaintiff suffered “physical injury, severe emotional distress, anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, frustration, stress, trauma and concern.”

Huntsville attorneys William Sanderson and Taylor Brooks filed the motion to dismiss on behalf of Madison City Schools, Clayton and Watts.

The plaintiffs have two weeks to respond to the motion to dismiss according to an order Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Herman Johnson. The lawsuit was filed by Huntsville attorneys Teri Mastando and Eric Artrip.