State will pay $160,000 to settle lawsuit in boy's scalding death
Courts: State agency was accused of negligence by victim's grandfather
Oklahoma will pay $160,000 to settle lawsuit in boy's scalding death

By The Associated Press
Published: August 18, 2008

TULSA — A lawsuit against the Department of Human Services has been settled.

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The lawsuit accused the state agency of negligence in the way it monitored the care of a 2-year-old Tulsa boy who was later scalded to death has been settled.

A federal judge late Friday approved a $160,000 settlement in the lawsuit filed after the 2005 scalding death of 2-year-old Keenan Taylor.

The child died on June 9, 2005, a day after being burned by hot water over more than 50 percent of his body.

His father, Carlis Anthony Ball, is in prison awaiting resentencing after being convicted of murdering and neglecting the boy. The 26-year-old Ball has claimed the boy was burned accidentally.

The lawsuit was filed by Archie James Taylor, Keenan's maternal grandfather. It alleged that DHS was negligent for failing to remove the boy from his father's care despite previous reports of suspected abuse.

Of the total, $130,000 is to be paid from the state's tort liability self-insurance fund, with the other $30,000 to be paid by DHS from its operating funds, according to a pleading filed on Friday.

The Human Services Commission approved the terms of the settlement on May 20, but under the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act, if a settlement amount agreed to by the state or one of its agencies is more than $25,000, it must be formally approved by a court.

Ball's next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 22.


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So it's the state's fault? What about the parents for being big morons and having a child to begin with? This is the perfect argument for state-funded mandatory reproductive sterilization for morons.
ScottsWifeBlowsMe, DeepThroats - Oct 10, 2008 8:45 AM
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Another death for the empire !
jay, claremmore - Aug 25, 2008 7:26 PM
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DHS doesn't make mistakes. They follow protocol always!
DHS = Protecting the little children to their very deaths.
Voter, Oklahoma City - Aug 20, 2008 3:41 PM
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Voter, Oklahoma City - Aug 18, 2008 4:52 PM
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Classic example of how DHS works right here.
Remove the children they shouldn't. And leave the ones they should remove.

DHS = Protecting the little children to their VERY deaths.
Voter, Oklahoma City - Aug 18, 2008 4:52 PM
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Thank you for voting ! Please ask your representive's to vote against this bill. S. 3038, The Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 http://www.washingt onwatch.com/ bills/show/ 110_SN_3038. html This bill goes back up for a vote in September10,2008 In memory of children adopted out & killed by the people who adopted them : http://www.amfor.net/KillerAdopters/
Voter, Oklahoma City - Aug 18, 2008 3:40 PM
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Thank you for voting ! Please ask your representive's to vote against this bill. S. 3038, The Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 http://www.washingt onwatch.com/ bills/show/ 110_SN_3038. html This bill goes back up for a vote in September10,2008 In memory of children adopted out & killed by the people who adopted them : http://www.amfor.net/KillerAdopters/
Voter, Oklahoma City - Aug 18, 2008 3:40 PM
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Thank you for voting ! Please ask your representive's to vote against this bill. S. 3038, The Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Guardianship Support Act of 2008 http://www.washingt onwatch.com/ bills/show/ 110_SN_3038. html This bill goes back up for a vote in September10,2008 In memory of children adopted out & killed by the people who adopted them : http://www.amfor.net/KillerAdopters/
DHS/CPS = PROTECTING THE LITTLE CHILDREN TO THEIR VERY DEATHS!!!
Voter, Oklahoma City - Aug 18, 2008 3:40 PM
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Someone should get hot under the collar about the loss of a small, gifted, talented life of a child because of horrible mismanagement of an agency which is more concerned about the investment an care about the "folks" instead of the protective care of the "kids".
Candace, Lakeland - Aug 18, 2008 2:42 PM
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Before anyone gets all hot under the collar, let me say I am writing this post during my lunch period. I have been with the department in the neighborhood of 20 years. From the inside, I can tell you the number one problem is management. Personnel policy allows selecting officials to bypass more qualified applicants for applicants that the selecting official believes will be the "best fit." What this translates to is an evironment where bad managers promote bad managers. We lose gifted talented peole every day because horrible management. I have too much time invested & care about the folks or I would quit too.
Fortyseven, Oklahoma City - Aug 18, 2008 12:22 PM
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How can this happen to a defenseless child? I know how it happens because it is happening to my own grandbaby in the State of Oklahoma. I have been trying to get custody of my daughters child after her death in 2004. However, I have not been able to see her or even talk to her daughter since her death. The Judge gave custody to her paternal grandfather who is a convicted felon without even having a guardianship hearing with all the notices given to the people who care about my granddaughter. The Judge in the case in Oklahoma County has recently, been taken off the bench, but where does that put the cases that he wrongly presided over??? I have contacted her school and was able to wish her "Happy Birthday" over the phone just one time. Her grandfather has shot people in the home before when we were married and is a very violent man. I have sent the police over his house to check on her several times but I have not been able to see her since my daughter died in the hospital almost 5 years ago. I hope this lawsuit against DHS will get changes made in the State of Oklahoma for the Better.
Candace, Lakeland - Aug 18, 2008 9:26 AM
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I guess it is cheaper for DHS to just wait for something like this to happen and then pay off the case rather than doing their job? How can this operation keep running the way it does?
JJ, Okc - Aug 18, 2008 7:54 AM
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