NY - aunt who sued 8yr old nephew over hug loses lawsuit

New Yorker Jennifer Connell, who sued her eight-year-old nephew after he leapt at her to give her a loving hug and she fell and broke her wrist, has lost her lawsuit against him.

Sean Tarala, now 12, appeared confused when he appeared in court. The young boy's mother died last year.

The aunt showed up for his birthday party four years ago, and witnesses say he ran towards her shouting:

"Auntie Jen, I love you," according to court testimony...
The 54-year-old New York woman told the court she loved her nephew, but that he should be held responsible in the case.

Click to expand...

http://ktla.com/2015/10/13/woman-su...er-breaking-her-wrist-during-8-year-olds-hug/

OMG. The accident had a serious impact on her social life, Connell says:

She claimed her social life has taken a serious hit as well. "I was at a party recently, and it was difficult to hold my hors d'oeuvre plate," Connell said.

Click to expand...

Is anybody else heartbroken for that little boy who just lost his mom and has had to go through this?

http://ktla.com/2015/10/13/woman-su...er-breaking-her-wrist-during-8-year-olds-hug/

What a sickening attitude this woman has. I wish I could sue her for ruining my day.

I am a bit confused as to why she would be suing a little boy, who would obviously have no assets. Was she really suing HIM or the father? The reason I ask is that if you were at someone's home and injured yourself due to something that was their fault, i.e. their stairs collapsed and you fell, or you slipped on ice in their driveway, or perhaps their dog knocked them down and caused a similar injury. Not comparing the little boy to a dog, but the boy is under the care of the parents, who would be ultimately responsible for his actions. So if she sustained an injury at their home, by something that was in their control, why wouldn't the parents be responsible?

That said, her complaining about not being able to hold an hors d'oeuvre plate has to be one of the funniest things I have ever heard. The poor dear! LOL!

P.S. I'd also like to hear why she was suing for so much money? Pain and suffering? If I were her, I may have gone after the parents to pay the medical bills, but nothing else.

zwiebel said:

OMG. The accident had a serious impact on her social life, Connell says:



Is anybody else heartbroken for that little boy who just lost his mom and has had to go through this?

http://ktla.com/2015/10/13/woman-su...er-breaking-her-wrist-during-8-year-olds-hug/

Click to expand...

I agree. The sister probably has an estate of some value so sis wants her share - at this poor kid's expense. Gmab

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/boy-12-trial-conn-breaking-aunt-wrist-article-1.2395756

A Connecticut jury needed just 25 minutes Tuesday to decide against a Manhattan human resources manager who sued her own nephew for $127,000 in damages after he accidentally broke her wrist.

Click to expand...

Surprising that it took the jury that long to make a decision.

TheDuchess said:

I am a bit confused as to why she would be suing a little boy, who would obviously have no assets. Was she really suing HIM or the father? The reason I ask is that if you were at someone's home and injured yourself due to something that was their fault, i.e. their stairs collapsed and you fell, or you slipped on ice in their driveway, or perhaps their dog knocked them down and caused a similar injury. Not comparing the little boy to a dog, but the boy is under the care of the parents, who would be ultimately responsible for his actions. So if she sustained an injury at their home, by something that was in their control, why wouldn't the parents be responsible?

That said, her complaining about not being able to hold an hors d'oeuvre plate has to be one of the funniest things I have ever heard. The poor dear! LOL!

P.S. I'd also like to hear why she was suing for so much money? Pain and suffering? If I were her, I may have gone after the parents to pay the medical bills, but nothing else.

Click to expand...

Well I guess now when she sips her tea she's just gonna have to use the pinky finger too! OMG SMH!

I hope she never gets another hug from this baby!!

I had to sign in just so I could add my disbelief. I feel like this is an ONION story! I can't even say what I want about auntie or I'll get kicked off WS for good. Gee whiz, I am stunned someone would be that greedy. Can I say I hope she slips on the ice this winter?

I hope that young man continues to show his love to people that LOVE HIM BACK!

zwiebel said:

New Yorker Jennifer Connell, who sued her eight-year-old nephew after he leapt at her to give her a loving hug and she fell and broke her wrist, has lost her lawsuit against him.

Sean Tarala, now 12, appeared confused when he appeared in court. The young boy's mother died last year.

The aunt showed up for his birthday party four years ago, and witnesses say he ran towards her shouting:



http://ktla.com/2015/10/13/woman-su...er-breaking-her-wrist-during-8-year-olds-hug/

Click to expand...

Blink-Blink. :thud:

zwiebel said:

OMG. The accident had a serious impact on her social life, Connell says:



Is anybody else heartbroken for that little boy who just lost his mom and has had to go through this?

http://ktla.com/2015/10/13/woman-su...er-breaking-her-wrist-during-8-year-olds-hug/

Click to expand...

I'm just wondering if she was afraid she would have to raise him?

Tulessa said:

Blink-Blink. :thud:

Click to expand...

Hope he's got a nice aunt like you tucked away somewhere, Tulessa.

Let's see what this does for her social life.

Honestly, who would want to associate with this woman. I sure wouldn't want her in my home, or in my car.

"Jennifer Connell, 54, believes little Sean Tarala, now 12, should have known better than to jump into her arms as a means of welcoming her to his birthday party in 2011, ctpost.com reported Monday."

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/aunt-sues-nephew-12-breaking-wrist-greeting-article-1.2394889



What does she do, walk on her hands?

“I live in Manhattan in a third-floor walk-up so it has been very difficult,” she said. “And we all know how crowded it is in Manhattan.”

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/8-year-old-boy-on-trial-for-exuberance-6566757.php

zwiebel said:

OMG. The accident had a serious impact on her social life, Connell says:



Is anybody else heartbroken for that little boy who just lost his mom and has had to go through this?

http://ktla.com/2015/10/13/woman-su...er-breaking-her-wrist-during-8-year-olds-hug/

Click to expand...

Poor thing. Her life must be so hard.

Poor little guy, loses his mom and gets sued by his aunt. So sad. I just cannot believe this woman. I am going to guess she doesn't have her own kids, and well, not surprised either. I sure hope this boys father gives him a lot of love. She should be sued for such a frivolous case

Some of the comments from the articles posted argued that this was a scam lawsuit; the families split it 50/50 or something by having their insurance pay. I don't know if I believe that though since the arguments that the aunt used were just so.... lame. It's surprising that she said the things about the plate and that her lawyer apparently let her say these things. You need to sympathize with the jury, who's going to sympathize with:

“I live in Manhattan in a third-floor walkup so it has been very difficult,” Connell testified Friday at Connecticut Superior Court in Bridgeport. “And we all know how crowded it is in Manhattan.”

Click to expand...

What does this have to do with her wrist?

“I was at a party recently and it was difficult to hold my hors d’oeuvres plate,” she added.

Click to expand...

Use your good wrist or lessen the plate. It can't be that heavy.

The media is probably only focusing on these things though so I really want to read the whole thing.

I doubt she expected for her lawsuit to garner any attention and she probably just added a whole bunch of unnecessary stress to her life.

I'm going to play devil's advocate.

This article seems slanted. I'm guessing she filed the suit before the boy's mother died - the statute of limitations for civil liability in accidents in Texas is 2 years, I wonder if it's the same there?

It does sound silly to say she couldn't hold her appetizer plate but in reality, doing simple tasks like holding something light is difficult for her. That's a loss.

It's unlikely she was going to be suing the family, but rather, the homeowner's insurance. If you want to collect loss from a home owner, you sue them, and the homeowner's insurance kicks in and provides the attorneys, etc. She has suffered a loss. Just as if you're in a car accident, and you suffer injury, you sue the other party and their car insurance company steps up and takes over the process at that point. But you don't sue the insurance company, you sue the car owner or home owner.

She's got a permanently injured arm, because her 50 pound nephew jumped on her, is what it sounds like to me. "Jumped into her arms" is not something a typical 8 year old would do to a middle aged woman.

I don't know all the details, but just reading between the lines this is what I think may have happened - it's unlikely she would be able to have an attorney go through the effort to represent her all the way through a jury trial if there wasn't more here than is being reported in the media.

I'm just kind of jaded, because I'm always reminded of the McDonald's coffee incident. That case still makes me mad. McDonalds had been warned repeatedly not to serve coffee boiling hot in those rickety cups with lids out their drive up windows. The woman who had it spill all over her lap should have been predicted - you don't serve something like that to someone who is driving a car. Coffee served through the window shouldn't take your skin off if it spills on you. What if the woman had done what was intended - taken a swig of the coffee? It would likely have burned her throat all the way down to her stomach and she might not have lived through that.

So that's what I'm thinking maybe about this case.

I think this article explains the legal part well:

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Jury-Aunt-who-sued-8-year-old-gets-zero-6568677.php

Quinnipiac University law professor William Dunlap said that in civil cases like this one involving children, the jury is instructed to view the child as a child, and not by a “reasonable person” standard.

“When you’re talking about young children, you’re talking about a subjective standard - not an objective standard,” he said. “The child is not required to conform his behavior to the way a reasonable adult is expected to behave.”

If the defendant had been 18 at the time of the incident, he would have been expected to act like a “reasonable adult.”

“The jury is supposed to judge the child’s behavior by how a child of similar age, intelligence and experience is expected to behave,” he said.

Judge Edward Stodolink instructed the jury to consider what a “prudent” 8-year-old boy would have done when his aunt came to his birthday party.

Click to expand...

ETA:

Sean's mother passed away last summer. The lawsuit was filed on March 1st, 2013.

Jennifer Connell: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

http://civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/CaseDetail/PublicCaseDetail.aspx?DocketNo=FBTCV136033608S

So this kind of becomes sadder. Sean's mother committed suicide, apparently, and it seems this lawsuit was brought before Sean's mother died.

Almost all the comments here have been my opinion on facebook about this woman today.

All day I hoped the only thing that this boy was forced to learn today was that sometimes in life we have people in our lives that we love but its better to burn that bridge.