A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court following a 2017 student assault at York High School has been settled, although terms of the settlement remain confidential.

Settlement was reached late last month in the case brought by Michael and Erin McCann against the York School Department as well as Timothy and Julie McCann. Both the plaintiffs and the defendant McCanns had children in the school at the time of the October 2017 assault. The two couples are unrelated.

Notice was given to the court June 20 that a settlement had been “affected by mutual agreement of all parties herein,” and Judge John Nivison gave everyone until July 22 to file a stipulation of dismissal. The day prior, on June 19, the York School Committee, after coming out of executive session, voted to direct the superintendent to settle “on terms negotiated by our insurance carrier and counsel.”

The underlying case was brought by Michael and Erin McCann on behalf of their son, identified in court documents as JM. Filed last August, the lawsuit claims their son was systematically bullied in both middle school and as a freshman at York High. The assault took place in October 2017, his freshman year.

Well publicized at the time, the assailant was the older son of the defendant McCanns, identified as DM. He is the brother of GM, also a freshman that fall. JM and GM texted back and forth that fall, making derogatory statements about each other. JM referred to GM as “a fag,” and GM, according to the lawsuit, called JM a “c—t and a b—-h.” Moreover, said the plaintiffs, GM and his friends consistently taunted JM.

On Oct. 20, DM “savagely attacked and physically beat” JM, the lawsuit alleges, an incident caught on videotape from a school security camera. JM was out of school for three months recovering from his injuries, the suit alleges.

The plaintiff McCanns make a broad case of indifference and neglect against the School Department. Their son, they said, suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety attacks, which qualified him for a Section 504 plan. That plan, arising from federal anti-discrimination statute, requires the school accommodate a student who has a disability under that law.

JM’s parents claim they or JM told his 504 coordinator on several occasions about escalating tension between himself and GM that fall, saying JM experienced “growing anxiety and concerns for his physical safety at the school.” Other school administrators were also contacted.

The defendant McCanns were charged with assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and liability of parents for damage by children. The defendants denied all allegations and said the damages sought by the plaintiffs “were the proximate result of the sole or comparatively greater fault of the plaintiffs or of others whose negligence is imputed to the plaintiffs.”

The School Department was charged with violating Title IX, which ensures no one on the basis of sex be excluded from a school that receives federal assistance. The plaintiff McCanns also charged the department violated Section 504, because the school knew of JM’s disabilities and were told of his anxiousness over threats but did nothing. Finally, they charged the school with violating JM’s 14th Amendment rights of “equal protection under the law.”

The department filed a motion to dismiss all of those charges, but in February Judge Nivison denied that motion as to the Title IX and Section 504 claims, while granting dismissal of the constitutional claim. He said at this early juncture in the case — before preparation for the trial and based on the allegations alleged by Erin and Michael McCann — there was reason enough for the case against the department to go forward on those two claims.

By April, the School Department appeared to be readying to provide documents in preparation for trial, as it filed a motion for confidentiality order, seeking and gaining the judge’s permission not to disclose to the public confidential student records.