Telepeer

$2.28 billion award in Lake Elsinore child sex-abuse case could be largest ever

April 28, 2023

A Riverside County jury has awarded $2.28 billion — perhaps the largest amount in a child sexual-assault case in U.S. history — to the stepdaughter of a one-time Lake Elsinore church elder who admitted in his criminal trial decades ago to committing lewd acts on a minor.

Before the jury on Tuesday, April 25, ordered the man to pay $836 million in general damages and $1.44 billion in punitive damages, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settled out of court for $1 million and the woman’s mother agreed to pay $200,000, according to the attorney for the woman, who is now 41.

The stepfather did not show up to the civil trial, said the lawyer, Gary A. Dordick. The jury returned the verdict on the third day of deliberations.

The Southern California News Group is not identifying the relatives to protect the victim.

“Mrs. Doe wants everyone to know there is no shame in being a victim of abuse,” Dordick said.

The victim does not expect to receive much of the award, Dordick said, with her stepfather in his 70s and working in a trophy shop.

But she felt vindicated.

“It’s part of her healing process to have this despicable person held responsible,” the lawyer said. “The jury verdict was very satisfying to her emotionally. We would like to take whatever he has as punishment.”

Dordick told jurors that if Fox Corp. agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle the defamation lawsuit that damaged the voting machine company’s reputation, then his client was entitled to at least $1.6 billion in combined damages for suffering physical abuse.

The lawyer said he is not aware of a larger award in a similar case: “We think it’s the biggest. I’ve been doing this 36 years. It’s the largest sexual assault verdict in history.”

In 2018, when a jury in Georgia awarded $1 billion to a 20-year-old woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a security guard six years earlier, the woman’s attorney said he believed it was the largest such award to an individual in U.S. history.

In the Lake Elsinore case, the victim alleged in her lawsuit that the abuse began around 1987 and that after she joined the church, the abuse continued in the church sanctuary, parking lot and gymnasium.

According to the civil lawsuit, in 1994, when the girl was 13, she told a church bishop about her accusations and so he organized a meeting with her, him and the parents. “The bishop talked about forgiveness,” the lawsuit says.

The mother, in a court filing, denied the allegation that she knew about the assaults but did nothing to stop them.

The abuse continued, the civil suit says, until the victim told her high school basketball coach. Authorities were called, and the stepfather was arrested. In 1997, he pleaded guilty to one count of committing three or more acts of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 14, Superior Court records show.

In that case, the victim was his client, Dordick said.

Crime and Public Safety |

DNA from coffee cup leads to arrest in decades-old rapes

Crime and Public Safety |

Trump lawyer cross-examines rape accuser Carroll

Crime and Public Safety |

Man convicted of day-time drive-by killing in Santa Ana

Crime and Public Safety |

Judge: Former California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes not defamed by Esquire’s Iowa farm story

Crime and Public Safety |

We Build The Wall founder imprisoned for fraud

Orange County Register