SPRINGFIELD — A mother’s legal battle against the city continued in U.S. District Court Tuesday after her 16-year-old daughter died by suicide in 2020 amid alleged bullying at Northampton High School.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents as “Jane Doe,” filed a lawsuit against the city in U.S. District Court in 2023, alleging wrongful death, civil rights violations and retaliation, arguing that the school neglected to take necessary steps to investigate, or end, the bullying.

The girl, described in the lawsuit as a biracial child suffering from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, was allegedly bullied by a group of children her own age the summer before she entered Northampton High School in 2018, around her 15th birthday, the lawsuit states.

At Tuesday’s summary judgment hearing before Judge Mark Mastroianni, both the plaintiff, represented by attorney Laura Mangini, as well as the city, represented by Attorney Jason Crotty, presented evidence to argue why the case should, or should not, go to trial.

“It’s our position that all the claims in our case should be brought forward for a jury. There’s a number of disputed facts in this case, and the facts that are not disputed allow the plaintiff to move forward with their claims, so we are confident that the court will feel the same way,” Mangini said in an interview Wednesday. “A majority of the facts are disputed — the city of Northampton has their view of the case, we have our view of the case, and so they’re very different.”

Mangini added that while the city, in her opinion, tends to focus on each specific event in the 18 months leading up to the girl’s death individually, she and her client are viewing the “bigger picture” of all the events that transpired prior to the teen’s death.

The suit alleges that the school took none of the steps to protect the girl that are mandated under the Civil Rights Act and under its own district policies.

By spring of 2019, the girl did not feel comfortable attending school, and attempted suicide in May, the lawsuit states. As a result, the state Department of Children and Families contacted the school. The school official who investigators spoke with downplayed the bullying as “peer-on-peer conflict” and also characterized the girl as the aggressor, according to the lawsuit.

The original complaint against the city alleges nine counts of negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of civil rights, retaliation for conduct protected under the First Amendment, wrongful death and punitive damages.

Mastroianni, following the recommendations of U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Robertson, agreed to dismiss counts relating to negligence, emotional distress and punitive damages in a July 1, 2024 hearing, but maintained that the counts related to civil rights and First Amendment violations as well as the allegation of wrongful death could go forward.

Multiple attempts to contact Crotty by phone Wednesday and Thursday were unsuccessful.

Although there is not a specific timeline for which Mastroianni will decide whether to accept Northampton’s motion to dismiss the case, or carry the case forward to a jury trial, Mangini said she expects to hear results of the summary judgment hearing in the next 30 days.