Store Sued For Causing Burns and Mental Problems After Clerk Pointed Scanner At Twelve-Year-Old Girl’s Face

There is an interesting trial starting next week in Erie, Pennsylvania where a judge has denied motions to dismiss a claim that a 12-year-old girl, Dominica Juliano, was burned and given psychological problems after a convenience store clerk aimed a hand-held price scanner at her face.

This would have been a case that one would expect to be dismissed under factual causation since the scanner uses a harmless LED light. However, the court believes that there is sufficient evidence to go to a jury trial.

ERIE, Pa. — An Erie County jury has been asked to decide whether a 12-year-old girl was burned and later developed psychological problems when a convenience store clerk allegedly aimed a hand-held price scanner at her face.

In June 2004, the girl and her grandmother had entered the convenience store where a clerk appears to have been trying to cheer her up. After calling her “grumpy,” the clerk pointed the bar scanner at her face and told her to smile.

The family insists that the girl is sensitive to light and burned, and later developed post-traumatic stress and Tourette’s syndrome.

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