The story of a woman who sued her young relative after a hug prompted internet outrage, but there may be more to the matter than meets the eye

A woman sues her nephew for $127,000 for an exuberant hug. It was a story that spread like wildfire across the internet on Tuesday. It seemed simple enough; the details seemed egregious. The nephew, eight years old at the time, had hugged her – said “I love you” while doing so – and the aunt sued him personally for damages to her wrist.

The New York Daily News called her “the Auntie Christ”. Twitter users were universally inflamed. Many found especially damning a quote from the aunt, Jennifer Connell, on the witness stand in the Connecticut court, talking about her difficulties “holding a tray of hors d’oeuvres” at a recent Manhattan party.



Aunt receives zero damages from suit over nephew's wrist-breaking hug Read more

However, there may be more to the case than meets the eye. Connell told CNN in an interview on Tuesday that “this was meant to be a simple homeowners insurance case” and said her attorney had advised her how the lawsuit ought to be worded.

This is “perfectly plausible”, said Tom Baker, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who specialises in insurance law. He told the Guardian this kind of suit is a common occurrence when someone finds themselves with medical bills not covered by medical insurance, who might be able to be covered under homeowners insurance if liability could be proved.

“I get why this would be an internet phenomenon,” he said, “but it doesn’t sound to me like anything other than someone following the rules … One must question why these are the rules, but it’s hard to blame her. You go into the legal system, get told what to do, all of a sudden you get flamed online. I’d be upset if I were her.”



Connell told CNN: “I adore this child. I would never want to hurt him. He would never want to hurt me.” (Though the boy, CNN reported, calls Connell his aunt, he is technically the son of her cousin.)



“It’s amazing the power that the internet has that something can go viral, completely out of context,” she said. “I’m certainly not trying to retire to some villa in the south of France. I’m simply trying to pay off my medical bills.”



Legal experts told the Guardian that there may be more to the story than a simple act of material vindictiveness if in fact Connell’s insurance didn’t cover her medical bills, and there was a chance that they might be covered under her nephew’s family’s homeowners insurance.



Brendan Maher, a professor and the director of the insurance law center at the University of Connecticut, said it was “absolutely” possible to file this type of suit without malice, simply to trigger insurance coverage.



“You can sue another person even if you’re not angry at them if they’ve been negligent, under the idea that they have insurance to cover negligent acts,” Maher said. “By suing them, you’re triggering coverage that you’re entitled to as a victim.”



The $127,000 amount that seemed at first glance so punitive might just have been an amount set by the homeowners insurance coverage, according to Professor Peter Kochenburger, a specialist in insurance and consumer law at the University of Connecticut. It is plausible, he said, that Connell’s health insurance provider, if she has one, might have mandated her to sue to recoup their own costs – a process known as “subrogation”.

“Did she need to do that to get insurance coverage?” Kochenburger said. “To get her medical bills paid? That’s one major reason why you would sue.”

Maher said: “In the US it’s common that [people] will get sued by plaintiffs only up to the amount of coverage. If I’m driving my motorcycle, I crash into you, and I learn you have a $20k [liability] policy, it’s very common for me to sue you only up to the $20k.”



“And there’s nothing wrong with that, because the policy is designed to cover negligence,” Maher continued, “even if there’s no animus, no malice. They just want to get compensation.”



The family, according to CNN, remains tight knit: Connell said that she had helped the boy shop for a Halloween costume in the past few weeks.

