KFC Wants Out of $8 Million Award for Wheelchair-Bound Girl

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in Australia opted to appeal the $8 million that a trial court award to a brain damaged teenage girl who was infected with Salmonella from eating a contaminated chicken twister at the fast food restaurant. Monika Samaan, now 14, has already waited more than seven years to be compensated for injuries that make it unlikely she will ever enjoy a normal life. Her whole family became ill in 2005 after dining at the Villawood KFC.  Monika, however, did not recover, falling into a coma and requiring hospital care for months. In the appeal, KFC says it wants the $8 million judgment reversed and reimbursement for its court costs. It claims KFC food is "perfectly safe" and Samaan's injuries are unrelated to the company's products. At trial, KFC employees acknowledged that unsafe practices occurred  at the restaurant, including food handling without gloves and throwing chicken about and dropping some to the floor. A spokesman for KFC told the Sydney Morning Mail the appeal to the NWS Supreme Court was just standard practice for the company.   The injured girl is confined to a wheelchair. Her father says the family has no savings, an old car and its furniture. The family's attorney called the appeal "an amorphous restatement" of the trial record. © Food Safety News More Headlines from World »