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	Sex Abuse Allegations: 1st Trial in Case Involving Doctor Still 14 Months Away By Arielle Levin Becker The Hartford Courant January 2, 2010 http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-reardon-trial-0102.artjan02,0,4141647.story It will be 2011 before any of the victims of Dr. George Reardon get their day in court against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford — at least two years after many had once expected to have the matter behind them. Superior Court Judge William Cremins has set March of 2011 for the start of the first trial. The cases stem from allegations that Reardon sexually abused children over several decades and that St. Francis, where Reardon worked from 1963 to 1993, was negligent in failing to stop him. In the meantime, attorneys will be taking depositions from doctors who were affiliated with St. Francis during Reardon's tenure. At least a dozen depositions are scheduled through the end of January, and attorneys plan to schedule another wave in February or March, said Robert Reardon, one of the plaintiff attorneys. Cremins said during a scheduling hearing that he wanted all of the discovery to be completed before any of the trials begin so that when the trials start, the focus will be on them. The 2011 trial date means a lengthier process than many plaintiffs had expected. In March of 2008, attorneys for both sides agreed to handle the cases through mediation, rather than trials. At the time, Cremins said he hoped the mediation would be resolved by the end of the year. But the mediation lasted longer than that — a reflection, attorneys said in early 2009, of the complexity of a set of cases with so many plaintiffs — and ultimately broke down in October. Attorneys representing more than 135 plaintiffs come from 16 firms and are eager to begin the first trial, said Robert Reardon, who is part of a steering committee of plaintiff attorneys. They believe that success in the first trial — including substantial awards — will prompt the hospital to settle the remaining cases, he said. Preparing For Trial It is not clear what discussions of money took place during mediation, but court records offer a picture of how much the plaintiffs may be seeking. Documents filed on behalf of more than 90 individual plaintiffs in mid-2009 listed how much money each would accept to settle their lawsuits. Combined, the total was more than $350 million. Robert Reardon — unrelated to George Reardon — said his side will be ready by the trial date. He suggested that St. Francis would have preferred a longer delay. "We would have been ready in 2010," Reardon said. "The judge settled on March 2011, which we think gives St. Francis ample time to be ready, and we certainly feel we'll be ready." In a statement, the hospital said: "While the court has scheduled an initial trial date of March, 2011, Saint Francis remains committed to resolving these cases in a fair and prompt manner." It is not clear which plaintiffs' cases will be heard in the first trial. Plaintiff attorneys have suggested beginning with 10 plaintiffs — five selected by each side — followed immediately by additional trials. During an October scheduling hearing, St. Francis attorney Stuart Rosen said having 10 plaintiffs in one trial could pose issues of prejudice. George Reardon has been accused of abusing hundreds of children from the 1950s to the 1990s. At least five people accused him of abuse while he was still practicing at St. Francis, where he served as chief of endocrinology. St. Francis officials have said that the hospital did not know of the specific allegations against Reardon until 1993, when state health officials tried to revoke his license. Reardon died in 1998. In 2007, a homeowner renovating Reardon's former West Hartford home found more than 50,000 slides and 100 movie reels of child pornography hidden behind wall panels in the basement. Since then, about 250 people have come forward with claims of being victims of Reardon's abuse. Police believe Reardon may have abused more than 500 children. Challenging The Age Limit Lawsuits have described Reardon photographing children naked, in degrading poses, and fondling or raping them in his private office at St. Francis. Some of the children were patients, while others were children that Reardon recruited from the community to participate in what he claimed were growth studies. Under Connecticut law, victims of child sexual abuse have until they turn 48 — 30 years after they turn 18 — to bring a lawsuit. Some people who say they were abused by Reardon have not filed lawsuits because they were older than 48 when the photographs were discovered. In addition, more than 40 of the current plaintiffs were older than 48 when their cases were filed Inspired by the Reardon case, state lawmakers proposed legislation last year that would have extended the statute of limitations in cases where material evidence is found that could not reasonably have been discovered before, giving victims over 48 three years from the discovery to file civil claims. Sexual assault counselors, victims and plaintiff attorneys supported the bill, while St. Francis and the Archdiocese of Hartford opposed it. Ultimately, the legislature's judiciary committee did not vote on the bill, which effectively killed it. Robert Reardon said he expects another bill to be introduced in the legislature this year to address the statute of limitations. Even if that measure fails, plaintiff attorneys said they are pursuing legal theories that will allow the lawsuits to proceed despite the statute of limitations. Those arguments could include alleging that the hospital engaged in a coverup that interfered with the victims' ability to know they had been injured or had the right to take action, and alleging that the hospital had a higher-than-average duty toward children in its care and failed to fulfill it.
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