and this week the Rockaway Township School District agreed to pay what will be the largest settlement of a bullying case in State history 9.1 million dollars for a civil lawsuit brought by the parents of Mallory Grossman a 12-year-old middle schooler who died by suicide in 2017 following repeated cyber bullying by her classmates according to the lawsuit students tormented her via text to Instagram and Snapchat even encouraging her to commit suicide Mallory's parents say the school failed over and over to protect her or act on their pleas for help her tragic death led her parents to create an anti-bullying foundation and helped get a law signed last year that strengthens the state's anti-bullying Statute in a statement the family's attorney says this large settlement should send a clear message to all schools around the country that children must be protected