$6 Million for an 8-Year-Old Left Paraplegic After a Recreation Center Missed Her Spinal Stroke

The girl was 8 years old and doing a standing backbend during a class at a North Carolina recreation center. No staff member was positioned to spot her. She fell.

What happened next is the part the case turned on. She told the adults her legs hurt, and no one immobilized her or held her still. She could still walk at first. Within about 30 minutes, she lost feeling in her legs. Staff did not call 911. She stayed at the facility for roughly two hours with no medical treatment. Later, when her mother phoned because the child would not stand up at home, an instructor said the girl was exaggerating her injuries.

Doctors found a spinal cord infarction, a stroke of the spinal cord that cuts off blood flow and starves the tissue of oxygen. The 8-year-old was left paraplegic and went on to develop scoliosis as her spine grew. Her prognosis was permanent: paralysis below the level of the injury, lifelong attendant care, and spinal surgery likely in her future.

Michael A. DeMayo and Elizabeth Grimes of the firm's Charlotte office handled the claim, working with co-counsel John Edwards of Edwards Kirby in Raleigh. The negligence theory was direct. A spotter should have been in place for a standing backbend. Once the child reported losing sensation in her legs, the staff had a window to act, and the hours that passed before she reached a hospital mattered to how much function she lost.

The defense pushed back on both points. The facility denied that the girl had complained of significant leg pain, said she was "walking fine when she left class," and argued that the exercise did not call for a spotter at all. It also contended that its employees were never put on notice that anything was seriously wrong.

The parties settled on September 19, 2016, for $6 million. The county and venue were kept confidential at the family's request, and because the matter resolved by agreement there was no jury verdict and no appeal to cut the figure. North Carolina Lawyers Weekly reported it as the largest personal injury settlement in the state for 2016.