A man from Californian man who was beaten up while wearing a chicken suit in 2010 has been awarded €9.4 million in a lawsuit.

Mitch Carter, then a 17-year-old student at Bakersfield High School, wore a chicken suit during a school pep rally to mock the Golden Hawk mascot of a rival school football team. 

After he was hit and knocked over by two students, he told a school administrator he wanted to remove the costume.

But the administrator scolded Carter, telling him he would have to pay the €67 it had cost to rent it if he removed it, the attorney said.

Several students piled on top of him, kicking and punching him in a beating that according to lawyers left him with a traumatic brain injury.

After the court found Kern High School District liable for the beating, the jury decided to award him €9.4 million, most of which is covered by insurance.

According to lawyers, the once successful student struggled with depression and poor grades since the beating.

His medical bills have already reached some $103,000 and were expected to add up to an estimated $5 million in future, the lawyers said.

“I just wanted people to hear my story... I would trade everything just to have a full functioning brain,” he said.