Woman awarded $2.28 billion in California sexual-abuse case hopes verdict dissuades abusers

A Southern California woman awarded what may be a record-setting judgment in a U.S. sexual-assault case — $2.28 billion — said she told her attorney at the beginning of the civil trial in Riverside federal court not to discuss with her how much money he planned to seek.

“I didn’t want to be distracted from what the goal was,” she said.

But when jurors on April 25 announced that her stepfather would be ordered to pay $836 million in general damages and $1.44 billion in punitive damages for the assaults that she says began when she was 5 years old and lasted for a decade, the woman, now 41, was overcome with emotion.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said in an interview on Wednesday, May 3. “I was bawling and hugging my wife, who was also crying. I think there is going to be positive change, and that’s the goal.”

The Southern California News Group does not identify victims of sexual assault in most cases, and it also is not identifying her stepfather and her mother, who was also a party to the lawsuit, because doing so could serve to identify the woman, her wife and their children.

The woman’s lead attorney, Gary A. Dordick, told jurors that if Fox Corp. agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle the defamation lawsuit concerning the damage absorbed by the voting-machine company, then his client was entitled to at least $1.6 billion for suffering physical abuse.

Out of the $2.28 billion, the woman said she might receive only $5,000 to $10,000 from her stepfather because he is in his 70s and works in a Riverside County shop.

Some of the abuse took place after the stepfather became an elder at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lake Elsinore. The church has already paid the $1 million settlement it agreed to before the trial, Dordick said. And the woman’s mother has paid the agreed-upon $200,000, Dordick said.

The victim, who now works as a chef, said she hasn’t paid much attention to news coverage of the gigantic award, but she is pleased that it has made headlines around the country.

“That excites me,” she said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak for my younger self. I’m grateful for being heard.”

The woman said she has received support from her attorneys, wife, children and the therapist she sees at least three times a week.

“Sometimes I am triggered and have nightmares and flashbacks,” she said. “It’s been a rough road. Some days are hard, and some days are five-minute days: You get through five minutes and you focus on the next five minutes, and some days you are able to see the colors around you, and those are precious days.”

The woman said she tried to get help during the assaults but others let her down. An elementary school teacher who suspected something was wrong spoke with the victim’s mother, the victim said. The mother, who the lawsuit says knew about the abuse and didn’t attempt to stop it, told the teacher that everything was fine, the victim said (In a court filing, the mother said that allegation is not true).

The victim, then 13 years old, told a church bishop who instead of reporting the assaults, gathered the family and preached forgiveness, the lawsuit says.

Eventually, she told a high school basketball coach, and authorities were called. The stepfather was arrested and in 1997 pleaded guilty to one count of committing three or more acts of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 14, according to court records. The victim’s lawyer, Dordick, said this case involved his client.

The woman encouraged others in similar situations to keep reporting the abuse until somebody acts, or to go directly to law enforcement.

“You are allowed to advocate for yourself,” she said. “Unfortunately, it took a couple of tries for me, but there are people who will help you.”