Salon employee spills hot water on customer: Failure to keep water contained: Failure to train: Burns: Postverdict settlement

Law Reporter, May 2002

Salon employee spills hot water on customer: Failure to keep water contained: Failure to train: Burns: Postverdict settlement.

jackson v. Ultimate Touch Beauty Salon, Tex., Harris County 190th Jud. Dist. Ct., No. 14-01-00716-CV, Nov. 29, 2001.

Johnson, 14, was a customer at a beauty salon. During her treatment, an employee spilled scalding water on Johnson, who suffered first- and second-degree burns on portions of her right arm, back, and legs. She required plastic surgery. Johnson's past medical expenses totaled about $3,800, and her future medical expenses are expected to total $20,000.

Johnson's mother, individually and on Johnson's behalf, sued the beauty salon, the salon's owner, and the employee who spilled the water. Plaintiffs alleged that the employee had been careless in carrying the water, which had just been heated in a microwave, in an open container through a crowded area of the store. They contended that the owner was both vicariously liable for the employee's negligence and negligent herself in failing to train the employee on proper use of heated water.

Plaintiffs did not claim lost income.

The trial court awarded $600,000. After defendants filed an appeal, the case was mediated and settled for $500,000.

Plaintiffs' expert witness was Donald H. Parks, plastic surgery, Houston, Tex. Defendants' expert witness was Norman Rappaport, plastic surgery, Houston, Tex.

Plaintiffs' Counsel

*Robert E. Ammons, Houston, Tex.