On May 5, 2010, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Section 1983 claims against the Ben Hill School District and several teachers and administrators. John M. Stephenson represented the School District and several individual administrators and teachers in a suit filed by the parents of two students who claimed a teacher and two administrators used excessive force against their sons and then retaliated against them after the parents complained about their alleged actions. Plaintiffs claimed policies of the administration and School Board were the moving force behind the alleged constitutional violations. After extensive discovery, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Albany Division, which resulted in a ruling in September of 2009 granting the school district defendants summary judgment on the federal section 1983 claims and dismissing the state tort claims asserted in the complaint. Costs were assessed against the plaintiffs by both the district court and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

In December of 2009, Stephenson successfully obtained a summary judgment in favor of the Ben Hill County School District and several administrators in another section 1983 action brought in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. That ruling was not appealed. Costs were assessed against the plaintiff in that action as well.