On September 2, 2010, the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal headlined “GHS administrator, 2 others found liable for student injuries; jury awards $5M”. Trial in the brain injury case of Gagnon v. Burns, No. CL08-572 in Circuit Court for Gloucester County, Virginia, is the subject.

The G-M G-J article recounts how Assistant Principal Burns admitted he “dropped the ball” to both the student who forewarned him and to the brain injury victim’s parents. But it omits the significant corroborating evidence in Gagnon that Defendant Burns also admitted to Deputy Carwell he “screwed up” and additionally admitted to Sergeant Shuster he “made a big mistake,” as both of those Resource Officers at Gloucester High School then on full-time assignment from the Gloucester Sheriff’s Office testified.

The G-M G-J article also omits that fellow GHS Assistant Principal Green testified further in Gagnon that the attacker, Defendant James S. Newsome, Jr., in his initial signed statement did not state the victim swore at him; and that Defendant Newsome only claimed profanity was used after Assistant Principal Green had given Newsome an immediate 10-day suspension, recommended him for long-term suspension too, and telephoned his mother about everything. Moreover, Rita Cargill-Brown, Director of Student Services for Gloucester County Public Schools, the GCPS Superintendant’s designee for all student discipline, testified consistently that at his long-term suspension hearing Defendant Newsome did not claim the brain injury victim used profanity.

Additionally, the G-M G-J article omits that the supposed MySpace.com printouts produced by Defendant Newsome’s mother the day after her son’s attack and suspension were hotly disputed by the brain injury victim in Gagnon. Substantial evidence questioned the genuiness of the communications, plus that the Plaintiff sent them.

Four witnesses testified it was impossible for the brain injury victim to have sent the second supposed MySpace.com document while they were watching him convalesce with his injuries and confusion under medication only hours after the attack; and Plaintiff’s computer forensics expert testified that the victim’s computer then had “Spyware” on it, which allowed unknown third-party access to his MySpace.com and all other accounts at all times. More fundamentally, Gagnon exposed that the two documents produced by Defendant Newsome’s mother did not appear to be regular MySpace.com on their face and, importantly, were missing the print date characteristically appearing on all documents actually printed from the internet (versus Word documents typed up by an individual).

Also on September 2nd, LawyersUSAonline.com posted about the Gagnon brain injury trial. That national medium headlined “High school fight leads to a $5 million verdict,” but dubiously referred to the one-punch attack as a “cafeteria brawl”.

LawyersUSAonline.com coverage definitely was the most comprehensive and best, yet still materially juxtaposed some facts about the brain injury case. In Gagnon, for example, the damages “hearing,” pivotal ruling and expert withdrawal happened the second day of Defendants’ case-in-chief, not the second day of trial overall; although 10 doctors testified for Plaintiff, not all could attest the permanency of his brain injuries; Plaintiff would have questioned Defendant Assistant Principal’s experts about their test results and the pertinent “medicine” on cross-examination, and would have introduced 3.0 Tesla MRI, DTI and Neuroquant analysis through his own experts on rebuttal; and the Defendant Assistant Principal’s hand-written note and his personal calendar were separate things that he “lost” and “threw out” separately.

On September 1, 2010, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association posted “Kid Injured in School Fight Awarded $5Mil” under “LAWS/CASES” of VTLA Eclips. This listserve covered Gagnon v. Burns, the Virginia brain injury trial in Gloucester Circuit Court, No. CL08-572.

Also on September 1st, the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal posted “GHS administrator, 2 others found liable for student injuries; jury awards $5M”. This previews its newspaper publication about the Gagnon brain injury verdict tomorrow.

The G-M G-J post quotes Defendant’s counsel that Gagnon is “an important case for the future of school administration and teachers.” Obviously, the jury verdict in Gagnon providing redress for the brain injury victim equally or more so is an important case for “student safety.”

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration just released a study which looked at incapacitating injuries in children under 8 years of age when involved in motor vehicle accidents. The results of the study tell us what we should all know:

Child safety seats when properly fitted and used through 8 years of age dramatically reduces the incidence of incapacitating injuries and death.

The study found that children fared the worst in rollover car accidents and that their likelihood of incapacitating injury was more than three times than of children properly restrained. In side-impact car accidents, unrestrained children was eight times more likely to receive incapacitating injuries.

What are incapacitating injuries?

Head injuries – in car accidents, head injury is the most common injury to children. They are the most dangerous type of injury because they permanently injure a child’s developing brain which can lead to lifelong impairment. These injuries include concussions, skull fractures and whiplash. Effects of a brain injury can include “neuropsychological problems, neurological deficits, frontal lobe injuries affecting social interactions and interpersonal skills, and injuries to the brain centers that control reading and writing.”

Thoracic Injuries – these include rib fractures and lung injuries. Children under the age of 1 were most likely to sustain this type of injury.

Abdominal injuries – these include small and large-bowel injuries.

Upper Extremity Injuries – Fractures of the humerus, radius and ulna bones in the arms.

The NHTSA report provides parents with information they need to realize the importance of using child safety seats. Read the complete report here.

For information on choosing the correct infant and child booster seat, see The Safety Restraint Coalition Coalition. Based in Kirkland, Washington, they have a lot of information for parents and child care givers.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.