Jeffrey Breit & Scott Perry: $300 million verdict against Cumberland Hospital for the sexual abuse of mentally disabled young girls
Jury delivers $360 million verdict in trial against Cumberland Hospital, former medical director
By: WTVR CBS 6 Web Staff
Posted 3:40 PM, Sep 27, 2024 and last updated 9:44 AM, Oct 01, 2024
RICHMOND, Va. -- A Richmond civil court jury has ruled in favor of three young women who alleged they were sexually abused while patients at the Cumberland Hospital in New Kent County.
After roughly seven hours of deliberations, the jurors returned a $360 million verdict in the case, awarding each plaintiff $20 million in compensatory damages, $40 million in punitive damages and $60 million under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
"Our clients had trouble believing in themselves at one point in their lives," said plaintiffs' attorney Kevin Biniazan. "To have a group of people a group of strangers to look at them to listen to them to tell them that they believe them that they believe in them, it broke them down, it broke them down in tears immediately," said Biniazan. "It broke us all down in tears."
This was the 15th day of the trial, which stemmed from a $930 million lawsuit filed against Cumberland Hospital and its former medical director, Dr. Daniel Davidow, by 46 former patients.
In this trial, the first of what could be several, the plaintiffs all alleged they were inappropriately touched by Davidow during admissions exams. The next trial is scheduled for March.
Davidow has denied the accusations, and earlier this year a judge in New Kent acquitted him of criminal charges that were brought as the result of similar allegations from two different former patients.
