Attorneys from Rouse Frets obtained a $120 million judgment for a plaintiff who claimed a former Scoutmaster and physician abused him throughout childhood.
In a bench trial in the 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County (Mo.), Circuit Judge Jack Grate ruled the defendant’s abuse was “outrageous by reason of evil motive and/or was committed with reckless indifference to the rights of others.” Grate awarded the plaintiff $20 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.
Randall Rhodes, the Rouse Frets attorney who led the trial team, said in The Kansas City Star it was “a conservative judgment given the facts of this case, which are beyond horrific.”
Other members of the trial team were Jeffrey Rowe and Rachel Boden.
This is the second nine-figure award that Rouse Frets has obtained in 2017 for victims of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts. In March, the firm secured $100 million for a man who claimed 2,000 instances of abuse by a former scoutmaster.