That "Star Wars Kid"

Quebec teen settles lawsuit over Star Wars routine put on Internet by bullies
MONTREAL (CP) — A Trois-Rivieres teenager whose antics with a mock lightsabre were seen by millions of people online has settled out of court with his alleged tormenters.
The family of Ghyslain Raza, 17 — hailed by educators for putting a human face on the growing phenomenon of cyberbullying — had sought $351,000 in damages from the fathers of three former Grade 11 students, who were minors at the time.
The students allegedly posted the lightsabre video online in 2003 and labelled the teen the Star Wars Kid.
But the office of the Raza family’s lawyer, Francois Vigeant, said Friday the dispute has been settled and the case will not be heard as scheduled at Quebec Superior Court on Monday. No details were provided.
Ghyslain’s parents, Jacques Raza and Marie Brouillet, recently dropped their lawsuit against a fourth former student.
In 2003, the four students and Ghyslain were attending Seminaire St. Joseph — a posh private Catholic high school in Trois-Rivieres.
While students in Canada and the United States have taken their school boards to court for failing to protect them from bullying, the Raza case is one of the rare instances of a pupil suing an alleged tormentor directly.
According to a 2004 study of Canadian students in Grades 4 to 8, 35 per cent of kids said they had been threatened online.
In their lawsuit, the Razas said the three former students took the video Ghyslain made of himself for a class project.
They posted the video on a website they created that showed images of the portly youth as he twirled a golf-ball retriever like a lightsabre at a mock enemy. The video spread across the Internet.
By October 2004, a website with clips of the video received more than 76 million hits.
“I want my life back,” Ghyslain, who was then 15, pleaded in an e-mail to one of the dozens of reporters requesting interviews.
(Montreal Gazette)