Ok, first of all thank you all for your input. I really appreciate this. Here's some responses to the posts posted here up to this point:
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Originally Posted by JinnKai
The only thing that comes to mind is how you're going to demonstrate malice? Certainly, dropping a baby is bad. But what you really want to sue for is intentionally dropping the baby. You've failed to elaborate on it here, how you knew she did it intentionally. Make sure you can back that up in court. Eye-witnesses, perhaps? Sworn statements by friends, acknowleding some sort of disagreement between these two in the past?
Intent is a difficult thing to prove, especially as time passes. Start collecting evidence beyond your girlfriends, or it becomes a she-said-she-said.
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Intent or malice. Got it, I'll do some research.
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Originally Posted by kurty[B]
If it's a whole classroom of people who witnessed the intentional dropping you have something. Were the police involved with this incident, did they make a report? If no police were notified the situation becomes even more difficult.
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Yes, this happened in the classroom and the teacher was a witness too. Police have not been notified because she took the baby to the hospital along with the other two to have them a regular checkup. The baby that was dropped had xrays and found the splintered leg bone. The police got involved then. Sort of. She said that they advised that she press charges. What else they did I don't know. She said that the girl and my gf would have to go to the school meeting with parents and that my gf would try to get charges pressed at that time.
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Originally Posted by fhqwhgads
Filing charges against another party is different in every state.
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This is Oregan.
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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
If I read the OP correctly, the question is about criminal charges, not civil. Those are two very different things.
If you are only concerned about filing criminal charges (which is going to be necessary for the civil case), then really your girlfriend only needs to worry about cooperating with the police and the prosecutor. I imagine that assault and battery, willful endagement of a child and criminal negligence are all on the table here, and I'll bet that you find that the police and prosecutor both chomp at the bit to put this girl away.
I'm going to differ slightly with what people have said above about the civil charge. First and foremost, you need to decide what you want out of the civil case. If this girl either has money on her own or is still a minor living with her parents, you might be able to collect something. If she's poor and over 18, you may easily win $1M in a judgement and never see a dime. Obviously there may be something cathartic in a civil suit that's missing from a criminal one, but it looks like the police want to send her to jail for at least a few years. Once that happens, the likelyhood of her having the wherewithall to pay any judgement against her drops. Conversely, the civil case has a lower chance of succeeding if criminal charges are never filed.
As far as evidence collection, I don't think that you need to worry about it at this point. This kind of personal injury attracts lawyers like flies to a corpse, and that will be one of the tasks they're charged with to best represent you. This is definitely not a small claims court case, since we're talking surgery on a young child. As an insurance guy, I can tell you that generally speaking that kind of injury is worth $250k+, although that's by no means guaranteed.
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Hmmm...criminal and civil charges. Forgot about the difference between them. She's wanting the go the max on this as long as it doesn't cost a trillion $$$ with low risk of her losing. She won't go to small claims, I know that for sure.
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Originally Posted by optik_nerve
After The_Jazz's post. I started thinking if you really wanted to take it to the max you could also get for attempted manslaughter.
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Ooooo...attempted manslaughter. How evilishly entertaining. That'd ruin the girls life for sure. I'm not out to ruin lives here. I don't like the idea of ppl taking advantage of the laws many loopholes and such. I don't want to abuse the system. But if it's in our favor, then I'll be a damn hypocrite and go to the max with this. Ha ha.
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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
I'll keep my own counsel until the OP comes back.
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I'm here, speak freely.
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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
Just as clarification, I meant that a criminal conviction would greatly increase the odds of success in the civil case. However, not filing criminal charges at all would be a big negative to a jury, in that it will just look like a money grab. Your OJ example tests out with this - if there hadn't been a trial, no civil jury would have found against him.
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I sort of understand what your talking about. Care to explain more?