Jury Finds Against Foster Parent in Wrongful Death Lawsuit
The following article was recently posted on my South Carolina Personal Injury Law Blog:
A Tulsa County, Oklahoma jury unanimously awarded $20 million in actual damages to the estate of a 7-month-old girl who died because of negligent care in a foster home. The lawsuit against her foster parent claimed that the child asphyxiated after being left unattended in a "filthy, roach-infested home."
The jury determined that the foster mother "acted in reckless disregard of the rights of others." The trial judge then instructed jurors that they could consider an award of punitive damages against the foster mother, but the jurors decided not to award any additional money for punitive damages in this case.
The state Department of Human Services, which placed the baby in that foster home, had previously paid $175,000 to settle claims against it in the wrongful death lawsuit. That amount was the maximum DHS could pay under the law.
Source: "Jury Awards $20 Million in Baby's Foster-Home Death" by Bill Braun, published in the Tulsa World.
