Burned girl's family to get $40,000 from Orange County School B...

The Orange County School Board has agreed to pay $40,000 to the family of an 8-year-old Orlando girl who was badly burned by hot cocoa at West Creek Elementary School two years ago.

[Jason]

ridiculous....

[Wow]

Unbelievable...

[Jason]

and we wonder where our school funding goes. it evidently goes to frivolous lawsuits like this. I mean seriously, plastic surgery?

[E Vey]

Would you give a kid barely past sippy cup age a drink so hot that it causes 2nd degree burns?

[Blue Line]

No wonder the teachers don't care anymore. Why bother?? Accidents can happen and I am sure there was no blatant negligence.

[JRho]

Yeah an 8 year old should be using a sippy cup. How dare that teacher try to do something fun like give the kids hot cocoa in class. Hope she was tarred and feathered before she was fired. *sarcasm*

[Jason]

E Vey wrote:

Would you give a kid barely past sippy cup age a drink so hot that it causes 2nd degree burns?

yeah because at 8 your anywhere near sippy cup age. Gee how did the drink get through the diaper that the girl still had on?

[Citizen Cane sez]

Blue Line wrote:

No wonder the teachers don't care anymore. Why bother?? Accidents can happen and I am sure there was no blatant negligence.

yes, accidents do happen and there will always be a sleazbag lawyer to profit from them as long as it is a defendant that has money.

[kathy collier]

This is a waste of money. All that $$$$ could have went to buy more books computers ect.

[8thgennative]

Are you all seriously complaining that this girl got a little money for a lot of pain. Have any of you gone through the pain of a skin graft? What about the anxiety of your seven yr old be under the knife for something as simple as hot chocolate. Now don't get me wrong, the teacher should not necessarily be tared and feathered, but do you really give a seven yr old something hot enough to cause burns that need medical attention. Shame on all of you. I tend to think that 40000 isn't enough. What about the traumatic event that this child will have to deal with for the rest of her life. I never really liked school this kid has to be scared to death to walk into a class room.

[Disgrunteled UCF Fan]

Could have paid two whole teachers with that.

[Think about it]

I wouldn't necessarily file this one under "frivolous." What parent wouldn't want plastic surgery for his/her child after that child suffered scarring from second degree burns?$40k is certainly not an obscene amount of money for something that's a beyond a scrape on the playground asphalt.

I don't think the teacher was negligent, but a mistake was made in giving the child a beverage that could cause second degree burns.

[Clayton Bigsby]

Ill bet if you really knew the extent of the girls injuries they were probably pretty minimal. Ive had hot chocolate and hot coffee poured on me lots of time and yes, I got burned but some ice and a couple of days later I was fine..

You do know boiling is only 180 degrees, a couple of minutes off the stove the tempature plummets fast so the cocoa wasnt like molten lava.

Accidents happen and 40K for a new SUV or BMW for the mon isnt going to make the child feel any better or worse.

I wouldnt give this woman or her stinking lawyer a thin dime of the taxpayers money.

We need to have a law enabling people to sue the pants off attorneys filing frivilous lawsuits in this country as well as punative damages and emotional distress!

[Get Real]

8thgennative wrote:

Are you all seriously complaining that this girl got a little money for a lot of pain. Have any of you gone through the pain of a skin graft? What about the anxiety of your seven yr old be under the knife for something as simple as hot chocolate. Now don't get me wrong, the teacher should not necessarily be tared and feathered, but do you really give a seven yr old something hot enough to cause burns that need medical attention. Shame on all of you. I tend to think that 40000 isn't enough. What about the traumatic event that this child will have to deal with for the rest of her life. I never really liked school this kid has to be scared to death to walk into a class room.

Please go down to Arnold Palmer Hospital and see what kids endure every day. I am not disregarding this girl's pain and suffering, nor her parents. However, please go see the kids with cancer who just whimper in pain that even morphine doesn't touch. No one gives them a dime and their parents are normally left bankrupt as they bury their children.

I feel bad for this little girl, but come on. We live in a sue-happy society. Does this girl know how to drink from a cup at the age of 8? Someone should sue her parents for not sending her to school prepared for life. Pretty soon, kids will only be allowed lukewarm water to drink and be given marshmallows to eat with spoons, just so they can't hurt themselves. Tator tots will probably be banned just so some kid won't throw one and knock another kid's eye out.

[jay]

Think about it wrote:

I wouldn't necessarily file this one under "frivolous." What parent wouldn't want plastic surgery for his/her child after that child suffered scarring from second degree burns?$40k is certainly not an obscene amount of money for something that's a beyond a scrape on the playground asphalt.
I don't think the teacher was negligent, but a mistake was made in giving the child a beverage that could cause second degree burns.

And tell us why "we" should pay for this?

[Citizen Cane sez]

Clayton Bigsby wrote:

Ill bet if you really knew the extent of the girls injuries they were probably pretty minimal. Ive had hot chocolate and hot coffee poured on me lots of time and yes, I got burned but some ice and a couple of days later I was fine..
You do know boiling is only 180 degrees, a couple of minutes off the stove the tempature plummets fast so the cocoa wasnt like molten lava.
Accidents happen and 40K for a new SUV or BMW for the mon isnt going to make the child feel any better or worse.
I wouldnt give this woman or her stinking lawyer a thin dime of the taxpayers money.
We need to have a law enabling people to sue the pants off attorneys filing frivilous lawsuits in this country as well as punative damages and emotional distress!

you make some good points but water boils at 212 degrees and you can suffer burns with temperatures as low as 130 degress.

[Think about it]

Clayton Bigsby wrote:

Ill bet if you really knew the extent of the girls injuries they were probably pretty minimal. Ive had hot chocolate and hot coffee poured on me lots of time and yes, I got burned but some ice and a couple of days later I was fine..

Sounds like you should be more careful when consuming hot beverages. I'm assuming you're older than the girl in the story. As far as her injuries, I wouldn't call second degree burns "minimal."

[Get Real]

Well, I will say this, since the stupid money has been awarded, the judge should order that unless the parents can prove they need it to pay any outstanding medical bills, all of it is placed in a college fund for the child. I don't know how lawsuits work and if this would be standard. However, something tells me that the parents are already shopping for a new car. If this was for the child, it should stay for the child and pay for her future education. I don't agree with it, but I definately don't agree with the parents blowing it.

[Referee]

Get Real wrote:

Well, I will say this, since the stupid money has been awarded, the judge should order that unless the parents can prove they need it to pay any outstanding medical bills, all of it is placed in a college fund for the child. I don't know how lawsuits work and if this would be standard. However, something tells me that the parents are already shopping for a new car. If this was for the child, it should stay for the child and pay for her future education. I don't agree with it, but I definately don't agree with the parents blowing it.

I agree with your statement here 100%! No new SUV. No new 20 Inch rims. The court should appoint a guardian ad litem to administer the funds for the benefit of the child and noone else. She suffered the pain, she should get the gain.

[Insider]

jay wrote:

<quoted text>
And tell us why "we" should pay for this?

Because in today's litigious society it is cheaper to pay the money than go to trial where a bunch of people with nothing better to to will decide your fate. The insurance will pay the claim.