OHIO
Columbus Dispatch
By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch • Tuesday December 15, 2015
The girl was 15 years old when she was raped twice by her pastor during a counseling session in 2008 at Delaware Grace Brethren Church in Sunbury.
Church officials knew the pastor twice had been previously accused of sexual misconduct with teen-age girls, but did not investigate or document the incidents.
A Delaware County jury subsequently found the church negligent and awarded the girl $3.5 million in damages for her pain and suffering.
But, since the judgment was at odds with a state law capping the amount of non-economic damages, a judge reduced the award to the maximum $350,000.
The Ohio Supreme Court was asked on Tuesday to declare the limit on damages unconstitutional when applied to child sex-abuse victims, saying it deprives them of adequate compensation for a lifetime of mental trauma.
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