Calais Weber and Cecilia Chen suffered personal injuries when a chemistry experiment burst into a ball of fire at a private boarding school in Hudson, Ohio. The personal injury lawsuit settled for $18.9 million.
Calais suffered burns over 46 percent of her body, and Cecilia was burned over 18 percent of her body. In addition to the intense pain, Calais also suffered deep depression. Calais has undergone at least 16 surgeries with more to follow. Cecilia has undergone at least three procedures with more scheduled. A teacher and her eleven year old son who were visiting the classroom were also injured but were not part of the lawsuit.
Calais who is now seventeen years, old attends Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts and Cecilia, who is also seventeen years old, is currently a student at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The parents of the victims will voluntarily spend $100,000 of the settlement proceeds to hire a nationally recognized education-safety expert to create a program that will prevent similar accidents and improve safety measures at the school.