The Florida woman left unable to have more children after eating a contaminated ice cream has been awarded an eye-watering $14 million by a jury.
As per reports, Brand Buckley originally filed a lawsuit in 2019, claiming she had consumed an ice cream purchased at Bruster’s Ice Cream in Palm Bay, Florida, that contained nails and metal fragments.
On that fateful day, which played out in September 2018, Brandy bought a butter pecan ice cream at a drive-thru window and took a bite. She then began to “scoop some out” for her son, only to realize that something was very wrong.
“I noticed there was a metal nail in the cone, almost embedded,” she recalled to WESH-TV. “When I did swallow, I did feel something in my throat that kind of got stuck.
“I thought it was a pecan because it was a butter pecan ice cream that I had purchased. It was a nail. I had swallowed a nail.”
According to the New York Post, ‘two metal shards’ later found in her system lead to years of health problems.
Perhaps worst of all was a subsequent blood clot which prevented Brandy from having more children.
She told WESH-TV: “That was my goal and my dream, to have more kids. It was crazy because who expects to get ice cream and find a nail in there?”
In her 2019 lawsuit filed against Malabar Creameries, the mom claimed she had suffered an array of injuries to her head, neck, limbs and nervous system after eating the ice cream.
She also stated that she had permanent loss of body functions and is continuing to manage ongoing neurological damage.
Brandy’s lawyers claimed that her eating the ice cream ‘ultimately resulted in permanent infertility’, stopping her ‘from having additional children’.
A jury awarded Brandy $14 million earlier this month, as well as agreeing that she should be compensated following years of expensive medical bills.
“We are grateful that this jury of six fulfilled their civic duty and listened carefully to all of the evidence,” John Alpizar, Buckley’s lawyer said of the verdict.
“This verdict reflects the seriousness of the harm our client endured and ensures accountability at all levels.”
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