A Circuit Court jury has returned a $1.2 million verdict for compensatory damages in a lawsuit brought against Woodland Park Baptist Church and two child care workers by the parents of a baby who was scalded with boiling water at Mother's Day Out at the church on Standifer Gap Road.
The two sides reached a settlement on punitive damages, but that was not disclosed.
The lawsuit asking over $10 million was brought by Ryan and Rhonda Beagles and their daughter Maddie, who was six months at the time of the April 27, 2017, incident.
It was brought against the church and its preschool as well as child care director Rita Ziemer and aide Danielle Evans.
The suit said the Beagles couple enrolled Maddie and her older sister, Landry, at the preschool.
It said on April 27 that Maddie was placed on a diaper changing table by Ms. Evans. It says nearby and at a higher level was a stereo boom box. On top of it was a towel, and on top of it was a water bottle heater.
The suit said Ms. Evans took the water bottle from the heater and went to cool the bottle in cold water. It said she unplugged the water bottle heater, which was overflowing with water.
When she unplugged it, the cord dropped down by the changing table. The suit said Maddie grabbed the cord, pulling the water bottle heater and the scalding water onto her head and body.
She was rushed to Children's Hospital, then taken to a burn center in Augusta, Ga. Afterward, she was at a burn care center in Atlanta.
The suit, filed by attorney James McKoon and the Abrams law firm of Raleigh, N.C., said Maddie suffered "unspeakable pain" with burns to her head and 20 percent of her body.
It said she had second-degree burns to her left arm and shoulder and to the left side of her back as well as burns to her head, neck and left side.
She has scars and is unable to grow hair on the back of her head, it was stated.
The suit said the parents have had thousands of dollars in medical expenses and have lost time from their jobs as a realtor and teacher.
It says the parents have suffered anguish and health-wise from the incident and are in need of counseling.
The complaint said the incident was apparently caught on video, but the church had declined to share the video with the family.
The trial of the case began April 16 in the courtroom of Judge J.B. Bennett.