Duval County Jury Awards $8.1 Million After Toddler Suffers Brain Damage at Jacksonville Daycare
Won by Coker Law Jacksonville.
A Duval County jury awarded $8,183,993 to a Jacksonville family after their one-year-old son choked on an apple slice at Primrose School of Glen Kernan, went into cardiac arrest, and sustained permanent brain damage from oxygen deprivation.
What happened
On October 1, 2020, a one-year-old boy was given a 1.5-inch apple slice during snack time at Primrose School of Glen Kernan, a franchise daycare on Jacksonville's Southside. The slice lodged in his throat, blocking his airway. Staff attempted the Heimlich maneuver while a co-worker called 911. The 911 operator guided the staff through CPR. Six minutes into the call, the obstruction partially cleared, but by then the child had gone into cardiac arrest.
Paramedics transported him to the hospital, where surgeons removed a 1.5-inch piece of apple. He remained intubated for seven days. His parents say he sustained brain damage from the oxygen deprivation, with the full neurological picture still developing as he grows.
The family filed suit against KSM School III, LLC, operating as Primrose School of Glen Kernan, along with two staff members and the school's insurer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. The complaint alleged the staff were not properly trained to prepare food for infants and toddlers, and that the school failed to follow safe-feeding protocols for that age group.
A Florida Department of Children and Families investigator testified at trial that when she reviewed photographs of the apple slices after the incident, she found no violation because the photos depicted half-inch pieces. She told the jury that had she seen the actual 1.5-inch slice removed during surgery, she would have found the school out of compliance with state licensing standards.
Settlement negotiations broke down and the case went to a Duval County jury. In April 2024, the jury returned a verdict of $8,183,993.64, allocating $183,993.64 for past medical expenses and $8,000,000 for future damages. The school filed a motion for a new trial and indicated plans to appeal. A final amended judgment issued April 15, 2024, and a satisfaction of judgment was recorded July 24, 2024, after the minor's claim settlement received court approval on June 14, 2024.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
More proven verdicts from Coker Law Jacksonville
All Coker Law Jacksonville proven verdicts →A Duval County jury returned a $2.5 million verdict for the family of Anne Fiorito, an elderly dementia patient who lost sight in one eye after a Vitas Healthcare hospice aide struck her during a bathing routine at Cypress Village Retirement Community.
Related premises liability verdicts
Anapol Weiss shareholder Kristen Gibbons Feden helped secure $1.6 billion in default verdicts for 104 women sexually abused as children by former Long Island pediatrician Stuart Copperman, one of the largest cumulative civil awards against a single individual in U.S. history.
A Dallas jury awarded $1.1 billion against a trust fund heir who beat a 2-year-old into a permanent vegetative state in 2021, a verdict the firm calls the largest child-assault award in U.S. history.
A Clayton County jury awarded $1 billion to a woman who was raped at age 14 by an armed security guard her employer hired without verifying he was licensed to carry a weapon.
Joseph Bruno and Bruno & Bruno served as lead plaintiffs' counsel in a landmark class action brought by more than 8,000 Gentilly residents exposed to a butadiene tank-car fire in 1987, securing a jury verdict that included $2.5 billion in punitive damages against CSX Transportation alone, later reduced to $850 million on appeal and affirmed by Louisiana's Fourth Circuit.