Lawyer proposes $4M payout to settle assault lawsuit by Waterford special needs student
Waterford ― Attorneys representing a mother who claims her daughter — a special education student at Quaker Hill Elementary school — was assaulted and seriously injured by a classmate in 2022, have offered to settle the case for $4 million.
Kelly Reardon, of the New London-based Reardon Law Firm, said the settlement amount was determined based on “harm that the child endured, which was substantial after the incident where she was struck in the head repeatedly,” along with what she “will have to go through in the future — still.”
“She required a month of hospitalization,” Reardon said. “Multiple surgeries. Rehabilitation. So it really set her back substantially, and she is still encountering difficulties...”
The settlement offer, filed last week, is the latest update in a case filed last year by the firm on behalf of the girl’s mother Iveth Headley-Crosland, against the town, the Board of Education and two staff members at the school ― paraprofessional Katherine Shea and special education teacher Jessica Nemeth.
In the lawsuit, Headley-Crosland charges that on Oct. 26, 2022, her daughter, then 9 years old, who at the time suffered from seizures that required her to wear a shunt ― an internal device used to help regulate the pressure in her brain ― was in class when a unnamed student, struck the girl in the head “numerous times,” leaving her with “serious and permanent head injuries.”
The lawsuit claims the student who hit Headley-Crosland’s daughter suffered from behavioral problems. Reardon said Wednesday that Headley-Crosland did not file a criminal complaint.
The lawsuit states the girl suffered a traumatic brain injury, the disruption and failure of the shunt, seizures, an increase in intracranial pressure and a buildup of cerebral spinal fluid in the brain, along with cognitive and neurological deterioration.
Reardon had said in July that Headley-Crosland claimed the student had been using a relatively small toy, which Reardon believed was described to her as a toy dinosaur, to hit her daughter. She added Headley-Crosland does not hold the child responsible, but rather school officials for not watching over her daughter.
Reardon has said the mother seeks compensation for the cost of the medical treatment her daughter required along with future medical bills and the “pain and suffering and associated effects on her life.”
The lawsuit alleges Nemeth and Shea, in addition to not providing the required supervision to protect Headley-Crosland’s daughter from injury, did not inform the girl’s parents of the assault, and failed to provide her with immediate medical treatment. The school system has not responded to questions about whether Nemeth and Shea are still employed by the school system.
Superintendent of Schools Thomas Giard, and Town Attorneys Nick Kepple and Robert Avena, could not be reached for comment Wednesday to discuss how the town would fund the $4 million settlement.
Reardon said Wednesday the girl is back attending school in Waterford.
“She has deficits from the injury, but she is, you know, she’s doing fine,” she said. “She’s acclimated back into school, and is doing her best to move forward.”
Reardon said Tuesday she has asked school officials to produce records, including files on the child that allegedly struck Headley-Crosland’s daughter, that would show their history of behavior in the classroom, and how it was handled by staff. That request was recently approved by a judge, Reardon said.
The case is still in the process of discovery, Reardon said, which entails requesting documents, such as school records of the children involved, and taking depositions, some of which have been conducted.
“Because we’ve been waiting for those documents, we’ve been stalled in our ability to go forward,” she said.
d.drainville@theday.com
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