Student who suffered a head injury at Cary middle school will get $550,000

A Cary family has gone from worrying three years ago that their son had suffered potentially permanent brain injuries after a fall at school to now knowing that he’s recovering and set up financially.

In 2015, Wake County school officials said Riley Shields, 12, a seventh-grade student at East Cary Middle School, was injured in a “terrible accident” when another student collided with him and caused his head to hit a table, The News & Observer previously reported.

On Tuesday night, the school system announced it and its insurance carrier had agreed to pay $550,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Shields’ family. The settlement includes $275,550 to purchase an annuity that will provide Riley with $538,362 over the next 29 years.

“I’m as happy as I can be with the settlement,” Michael Levine, the family’s attorney from the Levine Law Group in Mooresville, said in an interview Wednesday. “It provides the family with a basic lifetime security for their son.”

The Shields case was one of two settlements announced Tuesday night totaling more than $2 million. The school system and its insurance carrier agreed to pay $1.5 million to a parent whose left leg had to be amputated after she suffered injuries from a fall at Wiley Elementary School in Raleigh.

Under the settlement, Wake doesn’t admit to any liability with Riley’s injuries. The district will pay $250,000, with its insurance carrier covering the remaining $300,000.

“The student suffered a severe head injury which required significant treatment, and he is fortunately progressing on the road to recovery,” Jonathan Blumberg, the school board’s attorney, said Tuesday night. “ The district and its insurer recognize the inherent risk in a jury trial under these circumstances, and therefore elected to settle with the family for a negotiated amount of $550,000.”

The community had rallied around the family after news of what happened on April 27, 2015.

Then school principal Kerry Chisnall sent a message to parents saying Riley “sustained a major head injury when another student was pushed, and then inadvertently collided into Riley.” Chisnall told parents it was a “horrible and unexpected accident.”

In the lawsuit filed in 2017 in Wake County Superior Court, the family alleged that Riley had been the victim of bullying all school year and that he had been pushed in the back by a classmate, causing him to fall, The News & Observer previously reported.

But Levine said that it turned out to not be bullying as much as it was “rambunctious kids messing around in the back of the classroom.”

Despite what happened, Blumberg said that the district maintains that neither it nor any of its employees acted negligently in the case.

“Student safety is always a top priority, and WCPSS continues to take all available steps to supervise students and provide a safe, welcoming school environment,” he said.

Levine said Riley has largely recovered, although he does have memory loss. Riley is now 17 and plays varsity soccer at Panther Creek High School in Cary.

“Even though it was a pretty horrific few months, he’s basically close to baseline,” Levine said.

This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 2:44 PM.