FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) – A Kentucky restaurant has escaped liability in a lawsuit brought by the father of a 5-year-old who lost part of his finger in a bathroom door but couldn’t explain what exactly happened.
The state Court of Appeals ruled April 2 against Adam Hale, the father of Brayden Hale, in their lawsuit from Fayette County Circuit Court against Lexington’s O’Charley’s Restaurant Properties.
Brayden went with his mom Jessica to the bathroom after a lunch in 2015 and followed behind as she exited.
“Once the door closed, Jessica heard her son scream and turned around,” Judge Alison Jones wrote. “Jessica saw Brayden standing outside the restroom door, holding his left hand, which was bleeding profusely.”
A small part of his left ring fingertip had been cut off by the door but he couldn’t tell his parents how. The reattachment process was not successful, and they filed suit in February 2016.
Adam testified the tip of the finger was stuck in the hinge side of the door, more than halfway up. They alleged O’Charley’s installed a door mechanism that closed to fast because it allowed the door to shut in 3.174 seconds instead of five to seven seconds.
O’Charley’s said the Hales failed to allege door-speed was a factor. The trial and appeals court have now agreed.
“This is not a case where Brayden was hit on the back by the door, where the door knocked him down to the ground as he was still in the process of exiting it, or even where his finger was caught between the wall and the outside facing of the door,” Jones wrote.
“Brayden’s fingertip was located in the hinge of the door. And, no one could explain how his finger came to be in that location.”
“It is just as likely that the accident would have still occurred even if the door had been a slower closing one.”