A Florida jury awarded an eight-year-old girl $800,000 (£622,000) in damages after she suffered severe burns when a piece of chicken fell on her leg at a fast food restaurant.

A hot piece of chicken seriously burned the child, Olivia Caraballo, in 2019 – who was four years old at the time – when she opened her meal in the car in the American city of Tamarack, near Fort Lauderdale in Florida, according to a report published by the “Network” network.BBC” British.

The girl’s family asked for $15 million in damages, and the jury found, last May, that the fast food restaurant was responsible for the injury, and a different jury in Broward County, Florida, deliberated the case for less than two hours, on Wednesday, before reaching its verdict on damages, according to the newspaper. Sun Sentinel.

The child, Caraballo, received $800,000 in compensation from the restaurant for pain, suffering and mental anguish, including $400,000 for the past four years, plus $400,000 for the future..

In a statement, the family’s legal team described the decision as “very important,” while the girl’s mother, Villana Holmes, told US media outside the court: “I am really glad that they heard Olivia’s voice and that the jury was able to issue a fair verdict.”

The American lady and her child

Baby Olivia Caraballo

And she continued: “I’m happy about that.. I honestly didn’t have any expectations, so that’s more than fair to me.” Ms. Holmes also told the jury that her daughter had a scar from the burn and she was keen to have it removed, according to the newspaper. Sun Sentinel.

The BBC contacted the famous restaurant for comment, and in court, the family’s lawyers shared pictures of the burn, as well as the sound of the girl screaming after she was injured, while the restaurant’s management argued that the family should get $156,000 because her pain – as they claimed – ended after the burn healed within three weeks.

Defense attorney Jennifer Miller said in court – according to the BBC’s partner in the United States, “CBS News”: “The child still goes to the restaurant, and she still asks to go to him, and she still drives with her mother, and she still gets chicken nuggets.”

The mother hugs the family’s lawyer after the award of damages