Baltimore, MD: (Dec-13-07) A lawsuit was brought against the state by the mother of a 6-year-old, alleging violation of rights. The suit claimed that Brandon, the severely brain-damaged boy lives in a hospital bed in the front room of his Southwest Baltimore home, being fed through a tube and undergoing daily dialysis because of abuse he suffered in foster care in July 2004, when a teen-age girl with a history of violence allegedly slammed his head into cement steps. Records stated that Brandon’s case also included a civil rights claim against workers at the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, a division of the state DHR, for failing to protect his safety. As part of settlement reached, the state agreed to pay Brandon’s mother $1.5 million to resolve the litigation. The state settled his mother’s lawsuit for about $580,000 in cash and a lifetime annuity of $80,000 a year, indexed annually, which cost the state $908,000. Attorneys Joseph B. Espo and Andrew D. Freeman said that with reasonable certainty, it is the most the state has ever paid to compensate a single individual. [MD DAILY RECORD]
