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Applebrook Country Dayschool11/19/2003
Leslie and Garry Thurman sued Applebrook Country Dayschool, Inc. ("Applebrook"), a child day-care center, to recover for the alleged wrongful death of their infant son, Garrison. The case proceeded to trial, and the jury returned a verdict for the Thurmans. Applebrook appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in admitting expert testimony. We agree and, therefore, reverse.
Evidence introduced at trial shows that the Thurmans placed their son at Applebrook when Mrs. Thurman returned to work in January 1996. On February 8, 1996, Garry Thurman took Garrison, who was then eight weeks old, to the day-care center around 8:00 a.m. According to Lori Queen, a care-giver in Applebrook's infant room, Garrison did not appear sick or unusually cranky that morning, and his appetite was normal.
At approximately 1:15 p.m., Queen placed Garrison in a crib on his stomach for a nap. When Kathy Davis, another care-giver, noticed him stirring at 2:05 p.m., she patted him on his back, and Garrison "settled right down." At 2:25 p.m., however, care-giver Jackie Stone checked on Garrison and noticed that his hand was very pale. Stone turned him over and saw a small amount of blood coming from his nose. She called for help, then started CPR. The Applebrook staff continued to administer CPR until an ambulance arrived at around 2:45 p.m.
Garrison arrived at the hospital in cardiac arrest. Although emergency room workers resuscitated him, he died the next day. Garrison's treating physician testified that, in his opinion, Garrison was not breathing for approximately twenty minutes before his heart stopped. The autopsy report lists the cause of death as bronchiolitis.
The Thurmans subsequently sued Applebrook, alleging that the day-care center failed to properly supervise Garrison. According to the Thurmans, no one at the day-care center "checked on Garrison for an extended period of time when he was not breathing," resulting in his death. The jury agreed and awarded the Thurmans $1,000,000 in damages.
1. Applebrook first claims that the trial court erred in allowing Dr. Linda Miller, the Thurmans' expert in the field of infant supervision, to testify regarding the standard of care applicable to Applebrook and Applebrook's alleged breach of that standard. According to Applebrook, these opinions were "within the `ken of the average layman'" and thus not proper subjects for expert testimony.
The trial court permitted Dr. Miller to testify, over objection, that the standard of care for supervision in a day-care setting "is that a teacher is aware and can visually supervise the children in the room." The Thurmans' counsel further asked whether Applebrook breached the standard of care by placing Garrison to sleep on his stomach. Dr. Miller replied: " ince 1992, and even earlier than that, there have been articles and public campaigns . . . to get both parents and teachers to put babies to sleep on their backs." She also testified that, since 1994, the well-settled standard of care in the day-care industry requires that infants be placed on their backs to sleep.
As noted by Applebrook, "the duty of a child care provider is to exercise reasonable care for the safety of the child gauged by the standard of the average reasonable parent." Thus, " he standard of care is that of the average parent." Citing this standard, Applebrook argues that the average juror is competent to determine whether a care-giver's conduct breaches the applicable standard of care. In Applebrook's view, therefore, Dr. Miller's expert testimony relating to the standard of care and alleged breach was unnecessary. It further claims that Dr. Miller set forth a legal standard of care contra
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