Jury Awards $68K to Family of Girl Burned on Neck by Rope

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Central Texas jury has awarded $68,000 in damages to the family of a girl who suffered rope burns to her neck during a 2016 school field trip.

The Travis County jury in Austin awarded the damages against Live Oak Classical School. The girls' attorney, Levi McCathern, alleged that the 12-year-old girl was long-bullied by classmates, died a rope around her neck and pulled her to the ground during a field trip in Blanco County in the Texas Hill Country.

McCathern says the girl was among a small number of black students at the Waco school. He had asked for $12 million in actual and punitive damages but still called the verdict a victory.

School attorney Dave Deaconson, who said the injury was an accident, also claimed victory.