Monika Samaan KFC Lawsuit: Fast-Food Restaurant Appeals Order To Pay $8 Million To Sydney Girl

Monika Samaan, a 14-year-old girl from Sydney, Australia, was left brain-damaged and now must use a wheelchair to get around, after she ate a salmonella-tainted KFC chicken twister seven years ago.

In April, an Australian court ordered KFC to pay her and her family 8 million Australian dollars ($8,349,600 in U.S. dollars) in damages, the Daily Mail reported.

"As a result of her injuries, it is clear she will never enjoy the normal life that was expected of her prior to this catastrophic event," Australian Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman said in April, as was reported by The Australian.

But now, KFC is appealing the decision, the Sydney Morning Herald reported:

Now the company is appealing against the decision in the NSW Supreme Court, seeking the $8 million in damages, and its legal costs from the hearing, which could reach well into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Samaan and her entire family were sickened with salmonella poisoning back in 2005, but she was the only one in the family not to recover from the illness, Reuters reported. She became so sick that she fell into a coma and was hospitalized for several months, Yahoo! 7 reported.

Adelaide Now reported that during the trial, some staff members at the KFC store in question testified that restaurant employees would sometimes handle the food without gloves, and would even throw around the food and let the chicken fall on the ground.