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UPDATE 10/13/15: After only 20 minutes of deliberation, the Superior Court jury ruled that Connell was not entitled to any money, the Connecticut Post reports. Sorry, lady. You probably won’t be getting many hugs from now on, either.
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Part of growing up is learning that actions have consequences. Eating all the Halloween candy makes you feel like shit, skipping naps makes you cranky, and hugging someone too hard could get you slapped with a lawsuit. Sean Tarala learned that last lesson the hard way on Friday when his aunt sued him for $127,000 for hugging her too enthusiastically when he was eight years old.
The aunt, Jennifer Connell, a 54-year-old HR manager in Manhattan, claims that Sean was riding around on a new two-wheeled bike he’d received as a present when she arrived at his birthday party in 2011. When he spotted her, his tiny heart filled with unbridled joy, he ran to her, shouting “Auntie Jen, Auntie Jen.” Then he jumped into her arms with a bit too much excitement, and the pair collapsed to the earth. When the dust cleared and she pulled her mangled body off the ground, Connell realized she was in pain. She didn’t say anything, however, because “It was his birthday party and I didn’t want to upset him,” the Connecticut Post reports.
Connell described the horrifying incident to a Superior Court jury on Friday while the boy, who is now 12 and lost his mother last year, sat looking confused in the courtroom.
“All of a sudden he was in the air, I had to catch him and we tumbled onto the ground,” she said.
While Connell didn’t complain about the hug immediately, the injuries she sustained changed her life for the worse, she explained. Not only was it hard for her to get around Manhattan and into her third-floor walk up, the injuries also damaged her social life, making it hard to complete basic tasks.
“I was at a party recently, and it was difficult to hold my hors d’oeuvre plate,” Connell told the jury.
