The family of Jaylen Raggs has settled their Chicago injuries to a minor case with the city for $1.55 million. Raggs, then 4, sustained a depressed skull fracture and other injuries when a fallen tree branch struck him on March 31, 2006. City workers had trimmed the parkway tree.
The tree branch fell because of heavy winds. Raggs, who had to undergo a craniotomy to decrease the swelling of the brain, was hospitalized for two weeks. He received months of occupational and physical therapy.
Now, almost five years after the accident, Raggs, who doctors say sustained brain damage, is still behind in school. His verbal abilities were affected, and he has a slight limp from a permanent left-foot drop.
Raggs’ mother filed the Chicago personal injury case on his behalf. She accused the city of negligence in trimming the tree. An expert she retained said that the city crew should have realized that the branch was weakened or dead.
Falling Tree Branch Injuries
It is a premise owner’s responsibility to make sure that a property is safe so that anyone who is legally allowed to be there does not get hurt. Although it may be hard to believe, falling tree branches that strike a person can cause serious injuries.
For example, in addition the Chicago personal injury accident mentioned above, a 60-year-old woman had to undergo spinal surgery after a tree branch struck her while she was in a state and county park last year. Marcia Anderson suffered fractures to her skull, vertebrae, ribs, and scapula. She also sustained blood in her cavity chest, a collapsed lung, and a subarachnoid hematoma.
Also last year, a 6-month-old baby died in her mother’s arms after a falling tree branch struck her. At the time, baby Gianna Ricciutti and her mother Karla DelGallo were posing for a photograph near the Central Park Zoo. DelGallo was in a coma for weeks following the tragic accident.
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