UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Family gets $1.7M for toddler sex assault

|
 
Published: Feb. 7, 2013 at 5:07 PM

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A Florida jury awarded $1.7 million to the family of a girl who was molested by a 15-year-old on a school bus when she was a toddler.

Because the Palm Beach County School Board admitted its employees had been negligent in the 2007 incident, the amount of damages was the only issue up to the jury, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. Jurors announced their decision Wednesday after a five-day trial.

The girl was 3 1/2 when the assault took place. She didn't testify at the trial.

A lawyer for the family said she had been "profoundly traumatized" by the experience. Lawyers for the school board, arguing for a $250,000 award, said the boy fondled her but didn't penetrate her.

The jury clearly sympathized with the victim, the newspaper said, reporting that as jurors left the courtroom, they embraced her mother.

"My daughter finally got justice," the mother said. "We've been waiting a long time for this."

© 2013 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional U.S. News Stories
1 of 18
Iranians celebrate the qualification of  their soccer team  for 2014 World Cup
View Caption
Iranian women flash the victory sign during a street celebration in Tehran, Iran on June 18, 2013. The Iranian national soccer team defeated South Korea in their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying soccer match in Ulsan, South Korea. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian .
fark
Photoshop this female's flop
James Gandolfini found de
Why Yahoo's plan to release email addresses is really, really bad
Oops. Amazon may have just accidentally revealed the location of one of the CIA's data centers
Man who threw spear at passing car looks exactly the way you think he does. With mugshot goodness...
After an unwatched stove sparks a fire that burns down a house, naturally the fire marshal blames...