Lawyers weigh whether to reduce Pavilion’s record verdict | News

URBANA — About five months ago, a Champaign County jury determined that the negligence of a local psychiatric facility allowed the rape of a 13-year-old patient by another patient in 2020 and ordered the behavioral health system to pay the girl $535 millions of dollars. damages.

After attorneys faced off in a final round of oral arguments Friday to determine whether the outcome was excessive and whether the case should be retried, it’s now up to a Champaign County judge to decide whether to reverse or even uphold the potentially record-breaking verdict state. .

Jurors deliberated for six and a half hours at the end of the seven-day trial on March 29 before siding with the plaintiff, a mother who sued the Pavilion Behavioral Health System for negligence after her daughter was raped by a for 16 years. old while the two were admitted to the Champaign clinic.

The boy who personally committed the rape died in 2022.

Tim Cronin, an attorney representing the plaintiff, recommended during closing arguments in the trial that the jury order the Pavilion to pay $575 million in total damages. A lawyer for Pavilion, on the other hand, argued that $1 million in damages would be appropriate if the company were found liable.

The jury reached $60 million in compensatory damages — $20 million for the girl’s “loss of normal life” and $40 million for her “pain and suffering.” It then determined that $475 million was appropriate in punitive damages, ultimately bringing the total to $535 million.

Greg Ostfeld, an attorney representing the Pavilion, argued in court Friday that Judge Jason Bohm should rule that the March proceedings were thrown out because of numerous prejudicial statements made by the plaintiff’s attorney that inflamed the jury.

Among other examples, Ostfeld pointed out that Cronin told the jury that they should reach a verdict that would send a message and stop the abuse of vulnerable children in other similar institutions around the country, which framed punitive damages beyond Pavilion’s conduct.

Bohm, who presided over the trial, expressed skepticism about forcing the victim to attend another trial for her rape when Pavilion’s attorney refused to object in real time to various characterizations made by Cronin, who now are considered compromising.

But Ostfeld argued that the judge’s highest priority was justice, and the Pavilion was entitled to a new trial because “the area was flooded” with cumulative errors that made it difficult for the defense to object because doing so would risk drawing more attention to the inflammatory fact. statements.

Kendyl Hanks, another attorney for the Pavilion, argued that the rape at the center of the case should have been prosecuted under the issue of medical malpractice, not negligence. In particular, punitive damages are not permitted for medical malpractice findings.

Hanks pointed out that one of the plaintiff’s expert witnesses was both a licensed psychiatrist and a hospital administrator, and her testimony indicated that a lay juror without her medical training could not understand how they should be secured, housed or monitored hospital floors.

As a result, Hanks argued that plaintiffs knew their allegations of negligence were “inextricably intertwined with health care judgment” when they called this witness.

In addition, Hanks said a separate court statute requires witnesses with dual backgrounds in hospital administration to consider their testimony in the “healing arts” field.

However, Bohm questioned how a healing arts judgment related to security camera monitoring that was covered in toothpaste by the boy and an accomplice in the facility’s hallways before the young girl was raped.

In contrast, Cronin pointed out that the expert consistently framed the Pavilion’s negligence as “system-wide” failures, a Pavilion nurse testified that where patients were housed was an administrative decision, and a second expert with security experience but no medical training testified. with the effect of negligence in the management of the unit.

At Ostfeld’s arguments, Cronin asserted that he had said nothing improper and noted that the jury rejected one of the plaintiff’s claims that the Pavilion committed fraud, showing that they based their decision on a careful review of the evidence and not through a burning passion.

Notably, Pavilion Behavioral Health System is a subsidiary of Universal Health Services Inc., which filed a report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March saying the verdict was “unexpected and unprecedented” for a lawsuit of this type in Champaign County. .

“Although Pavilion has professional indemnity insurance to cover a portion of these amounts, the ultimate resolution of this case may have a material adverse effect on the Company,” wrote Steve Filton, UHS chief financial officer.

Ostfeld argued in court earlier this month that damages should be reduced because the girl did not suffer “serious physical harm” because she was not disfigured or disabled, and pointed to how a psychiatrist determined that she had since shown “improvement significant” of her mental symptoms. .

Ostfeld also argued that the verdict, which appears to be $200 million more than the next highest award in an Illinois civil trial, must have “shocked the judicial conscience” and that the jury was probably motivated by “passion or prejudice” instead. of evidence during the trial.

During that Aug. 1 hearing, Cronin reminded the judge how the victim broke down during testimony and ran from the stand, and that he pleaded with the jury twice in closing arguments to base its decision on the facts alone, so the defense’s argument involves the jury . instructions ignored.

Bohm is expected to rule on the motions in a written ruling sometime next month. Depending on his ruling, lawyers representing The Pavilion may appeal the outcome, which will send the question of whether to suspend or modify the verdict to another court.