Jury says psychiatric facility must pay $535M for negligence in rape of minor patient

An Illinois jury awarded $535 million to a teenage girl, finding that the psychiatric facility where she was a patient was responsible for her rape by another patient.

According to St. Louis attorney Tim Cronin of The Simon Law Firm, who represented the girl, a 16-year-old male psychiatric patient was placed in a room right next to the girl’s at The Pavilion Behavioral Health System in Champaign, Illinois. Video surveillance footage showed that the boy and an accomplice covered multiple cameras in the unit with toothpaste 75 minutes before the boy raped the then-13-year-old girl. No one cleaned the cameras in time.

“They have obligations to keep eyes on the hallway and the patients at all times and to make sure they don’t get into each other’s rooms. And they just fundamentally failed in that obligation,” Cronin said of The Pavilion.

He argued that males and females should have been in separate units and that, regardless, the facility needed to always have eyes on the hallways. There was evidence that The Pavilion was continually and severely understaffed and had not assigned anyone to watch the security cameras, according to Cronin, who argued the decision was made in search of profits.

“And we had evidence that the performance reviews — that everything was profit-driven. The goals given to the people running these units were just to fill the beds and then keep increasing the length of stay, which is crazy. You’re supposed to want to help people to get out of the hospital,” he said.

Cronin and his colleagues obtained “very disturbing” records about what the facility already knew about the boy, which he said included a serious history of aggression, including assaulting patients and staff at other facilities. At trial, The Pavilion disputed knowing that he also had a history of sexual violence, Cronin said.

The jury rejected the girl’s claim of fraud, which was based on the girl’s mom saying the facility had told her boys and girls were separated. In her negligence claim, where the jury sided with the girl, she alleged unsafe housing practices, understaffing, failure to adequately monitor the facility and failure to monitor the surveillance cameras.

According to Cronin, The Pavilion argued the fault was with the boy — who has since died in an unrelated shooting — and tried to minimize what impact the rape has had on the girl. However, expert witnesses for her side said, in part, that she has PTSD that causes her baseline level of fear to be higher than it otherwise would be.

“She’s basically scared to go out in the world, she doesn’t hardly leave her house. She hasn’t been able to go back to school,” Cronin said.

He asked the jury for $75 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages, with the jury awarding a combined $40 million less than that. Still, the award is the largest single-plaintiff verdict in Illinois history, according to Cronin. He said the amounts he recommended were partly based on hearing from multiple focus groups.

“It’s both to punish the conduct specifically in this case and deter it by this defendant and others in the industry,” Cronin said. “What we’re hoping is, this leads to a culture change and some industry-wide changes to make sure these vulnerable kids are protected.”

Chicago attorney Mike Prangle of Hall Prangle & Schoonveld, who represented The Pavilion, said in a written statement his client will challenge the verdict.

“The Pavilion Behavioral Health System and its staff are shocked and dismayed by this unconscionable and excessive verdict. We respectfully disagree with the jury’s verdict. The Pavilion intends to challenge this verdict through post-trial motions and, if necessary, appeals.  While we do not diminish the experience and feelings of the plaintiff, we anticipate this excessive verdict will be remediated. The Pavilion has been serving its patients and the central Illinois community for decades,” the statement said. “The main points for post-trial will be whether plaintiff’s case sounded in ‘medical, hospital, or other healing art malpractice,’ as plaintiff chose to submit this case to the jury on an ordinary negligence theory.”

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$535 million verdict (Out of State)

Sexual assault

Breakdown: $60,000,000.00 compensatory damages, $475,000,000.00 punitive damages

Venue: Champaign County (Illinois) Circuit Court

Case Number/Date: 2021 L 000176/March 28, 2024

Judge: Jason Bohm

Plaintiffs’ Experts: Dr. Loretta Sonnier, New Orleans (pediatric psychiatry); Joseph Sweeney, New York City (hospital security); Lauren Richerson, Kansas City (psychology)

Injuries: Loss of normal life, pain and suffering and mental anguish

Caption: Confidential v. The Pavilion Foundation

Plaintiff’s Attorneys: Tim Cronin, John G. Simon and Nathan Perlmutter, The Simon Law Firm, St. Louis

Defendant’s Attorneys: Mike Prangle and Laura Ginett, Hall Prangle & Schoonveld, Chicago; Ellen Herzog and Kevin Kuhn, Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, Denver