$1.17 Million Awarded to Boy Injured at School

A 12-year-old boy, whose school playground accident means he will never drive a car, remember the words he reads or make it through college, has won a $1.17-million judgment against the Lawndale School District.

After a two-week trial, a Superior Court jury deliberated for two days before deciding Wednesday that the school district should pay because it neglected the boy’s injuries after he had gone to the school office three times to report them.

Justin Robinson, who was 9 at the time, was playing soccer when he fell and hit his head during recess one spring morning more than three years ago at Mark Twain Elementary School in Lawndale.

Complaining of a headache, he went to the school secretary but was returned to class, said Susan E. Hargrove, Robinson’s attorney.

The boy then complained to his teacher, but nothing was done for nearly four hours, when Justin was sent to the nurse’s office, where an aide had him lie down for 25 minutes. Again he was returned to class, Hargrove said.

When he began to cry again, his teacher sent him out to sit on a hall bench, his attorney said. Moments later, Justin wandered into a nearby bathroom where his fellow classmates found him on his knees after school, court documents said.

Justin was taken to the vacant nurse’s office. A nurse from a nearby school was called as well as Justin’s mother, Donna Robinson, who arrived to find her son sweating and in and out of consciousness. She insisted an ambulance be called.

Justin was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. Hours later, he was in put into a drug-induced coma to remove an intracerebral hematoma, a nearly 3-inch blood clot, from his brain.

He was in a coma for 11 days. He spent another six weeks in physical therapy, his attorney said. Justin is now attending a private school.

“What a tragedy of errors,” Hargrove said, speaking for the family, who did not want to comment. “It was one thing after the next. They ignored this little boy throughout the day.”

It was unclear whether the school district will appeal. Allen L. Thomas, the school district’s attorney, did not return telephone calls.

“Obviously we are disappointed,” Assistant Supt. John Vinke said. “We feel the district acted responsibly.”

The jury found that even if Justin had been taken to the hospital earlier, surgery still would have been performed, but his injuries might not have been as serious.

Justin’s IQ has dropped from 124 to 103, his attorney said. He has to print instead of write. And he will never drive a car because he has lost his peripheral vision.