A Florida family got an unexpected and unwanted surprise after visiting Legoland in May 2016, and now they’ve decided to file a lawsuit as a result. In the lawsuit, Jessica Bermudez claimed her “young son developed a significant, possibly permanent skin reaction after getting his face painted at Legoland.”
A Florida family got an unexpected and unwanted surprise after visiting Legoland in May 2016, and now they’ve decided to file a lawsuit as a result. In the lawsuit, Jessica Bermudez claimed her “young son developed a significant, possibly permanent skin reaction after getting his face painted at Legoland.”
According to the lawsuit, Bermudez’s son “visited Legoland, where he got his face painted by an employee.” Shortly afterward, her son began complaining “that his face was itching and burning.” Upon close inspection, Bermudez noticed a rash beginning to develop on her son’s cheeks, and “and took him to the doctor where he was given medication.” Despite the medication, however, the rash remained and continued to spread across the child’s face, “causing dark spots and discoloration,” according to the lawsuit. So, back to the doctor, they went. Again the boy was prescribed medication and the doctor even diagnosed him “with eczema based on the aggressive spreading of the rash.”
Unfortunately for Bermudez’s son, the rash didn’t clear up, and ever since the incident her son has had to undergo numerous treatments, prescriptions, and doctors visits, all while his skin condition continued to worsen. According to court documents, the doctors treating him quickly grew perplexed as “to why the rash and discoloration would not go away.” Then, in March 2018, the boy’s doctor sought out a second opinion. At that point, the rash has spread “evenly around the boy’s mouth area, and on both cheeks.”
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While meeting with a different doctor for the second opinion, Bermudez was asked if something had been put on her son’s face around the time the rash developed, and she “remembered the face paint.” She immediately pulled up photos of her son getting his face painted and she and the doctor concluded that his “skin had a negative reaction to the paint used on his face at Legoland.” Unfortunately for the boy, the negative reaction “caused him great pain and suffering, as well as two years of humiliation by other children and deep emotional distress,” according to the lawsuit.
When speaking on behalf of Bermudez and her son, attorney Junior Mentor revealed that the child has spent the last two years being taunted by students at his school and was even “given the nickname, raccoon.” He added, “He doesn’t know what it is. He wants it to go away…He goes to the mirror in the morning and tries to brush it off.”
At the moment the lawsuit is seeking more than $15,000 and accuses Legoland of “negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.” It also states:
“The Defendants knew or should have known that that emotional distress would likely follow if a young middle school child would have a permanent rash and nasty discoloration of his cheeks…As a direct and proximate result of the actions of defendants, the boy suffered bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disfigurement, mental anguish, and medical expenses. The losses are either permanent or continuing, and the Plaintiff will suffer losses in the future.”
In response to the lawsuit, a Legoland representative issued the following statement:
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We take all matters relating to the well-being of our guests seriously. We have not been contacted regarding this legal matter and therefore cannot comment at this time.”
Sources:
Legoland face-painting caused significant skin reaction to boy’s face, lawsuit claims
Legoland: Mom sues, accusing face-painting at park of permanently disfiguring son
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