A former Huntington Beach student received $37,500 in settlement after suing the school for a crushed finger.
According to the civil lawsuit, Alexina Karsh, 19, injured her finger when a campus door suddenly closed due to strong winds. The door, which was part of a campus remodeling, closed in her finger crushing it.
The finger was not broken but it bled profusely and required stitches.
The district official denied the allegations claiming that Karsh was negligent and failed to use the doors properly.
The two parties, though, agreed on a settlement that concluded this case.
However, a lot of people did raise their eyebrows at the amount of the settlement.
Under the premises liability law, the school does have a responsibility to keep the students free from obvious and hidden dangers.
However, the incident was an isolated case.
To prove a premises liability case, one of the elements needed is that the officials should have or could have known about the danger.
And since this is the first incident, they could have argued that there was no way they could have known about the school hazard.
Another point is that, although the finger bled profusely and needed stitches, it was in no way a serious injury.
The finger was not even broken so $37,500 seems to be a bit much.
In addition, they could have also argued some comparative negligence on the part of Karsh.
Anyway, the parties have agreed on the personal injury settlement, and we do not know all the details of the lawsuit.
The important thing is that both parties are now able to move on from the incident.
According to the civil lawsuit, Alexina Karsh, 19, injured her finger when a campus door suddenly closed due to strong winds. The door, which was part of a campus remodeling, closed in her finger crushing it.
The finger was not broken but it bled profusely and required stitches.
The district official denied the allegations claiming that Karsh was negligent and failed to use the doors properly.
The two parties, though, agreed on a settlement that concluded this case.
However, a lot of people did raise their eyebrows at the amount of the settlement.
Under the premises liability law, the school does have a responsibility to keep the students free from obvious and hidden dangers.
However, the incident was an isolated case.
To prove a premises liability case, one of the elements needed is that the officials should have or could have known about the danger.
And since this is the first incident, they could have argued that there was no way they could have known about the school hazard.
Another point is that, although the finger bled profusely and needed stitches, it was in no way a serious injury.
The finger was not even broken so $37,500 seems to be a bit much.
In addition, they could have also argued some comparative negligence on the part of Karsh.
Anyway, the parties have agreed on the personal injury settlement, and we do not know all the details of the lawsuit.
The important thing is that both parties are now able to move on from the incident.
