CHAMPAIGN, Illinois – A teenage girl has been awarded a record-breaking $535 million by an Illinois jury after a psychiatric facility was found responsible for her rape by another patient. The girl, who was 13 years old at the time of the incident, was a patient at The Pavilion Behavioral Health System in Champaign, Illinois when a 16-year-old male patient raped her. The jury determined that the facility had failed in its duty to prevent the assault.
According to the girl’s attorney, Tim Cronin of The Simon Law Firm, the boy was placed in a room adjacent to the girl’s room. Surveillance footage revealed that the boy and an accomplice disabled multiple cameras in the unit before the rape occurred, and the facility failed to clean the cameras in a timely manner. Cronin argued that males and females should have been housed separately and that the facility should have had constant monitoring of the hallways.
Cronin further revealed evidence that The Pavilion was severely understaffed and neglected its responsibility to assign anyone to monitor the security cameras. He accused the facility of prioritizing profit over the safety of its patients. Records obtained during the trial exposed The Pavilion’s knowledge of the boy’s history of aggression, including previous assaults on both patients and staff at other facilities. The facility, however, disputed knowledge of his history of sexual violence.
Although the jury rejected the girl’s claim of fraud based on her mother’s assertion that boys and girls were separated, they did rule in favor of her negligence claim. The girl alleged that the facility engaged in unsafe housing practices, understaffing, and failure to adequately monitor the facility and its surveillance cameras. Expert witnesses testified on behalf of the girl, explaining that she now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that has severely impacted her life, keeping her housebound and preventing her from returning to school.
Cronin requested $75 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages from the jury, receiving a combined amount slightly lower than his request. Despite this, the $535 million verdict is the largest single-plaintiff verdict in the history of Illinois. Cronin hopes that this landmark decision will lead to industry-wide changes and a culture shift to better protect vulnerable children.
In response to the verdict, the attorney for The Pavilion, Mike Prangle, stated that his client would challenge the decision. He expressed shock and disapproval at the jury’s verdict, emphasizing that The Pavilion has been serving the central Illinois community for many years. Prangle plans to pursue post-trial motions and appeals to rectify what he believes is an excessive ruling.
This case highlights the importance of maintaining a safe and secure environment in psychiatric facilities, particularly when vulnerable patients are involved. The massive financial award underscores the severity of the negligence exhibited by The Pavilion in this instance, and it remains to be seen whether this verdict will bring about the desired changes in the industry and ensure the protection of all children in similar facilities.
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