SEX ABUSE CASE: The verdict in the school sex abuse case was the largest
for actual damages in the history of Charleston County courts.
By TONY BARTELME
Of The Post and Courier staff
A Charleston County jury awarded a John's Island
tomato farmer $15 million Wednesday in the Porter-Gaud sexual abuse trial.
The verdict was the largest for actual damages in the
history of the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas, and the figure could
still grow.
The jury agreed that the school and two school leaders
were "grossly negligent" in their dealings with Eddie Fischer, who
later was convicted of molesting children. The trial enters a punitive damage
phase today.
During this second phase, the plaintiff's attorneys
plan to introduce additional evidence that they say paints an even worse picture
of the school.
"I'm happy," said Harold Glover, who brought
the suit against Porter-Gaud School in 1998 after learning that one of its
teachers, Fischer, had molested his youngest son, Guerry, between 1975 and 1986.
"It sends a great message. I'm just
thankful," he said.
The jury took 62 minutes to decide on a number and
answer lengthy questions about whether the private West Ashley school failed to
protect Glover's son.
Rutledge Young, attorney for Porter-Gaud's board of
trustees, said in a press release: "Everyone is a victim here, and we all
agree on one thing - Eddie Fischer was the personification of evil and his
criminal acts on these young men were unforgivable."
Young also said Porter-Gaud has taken steps to prevent
future sexual abuse.
"Remember, this happened 20 years ago, at a
different time, at a different school. Many who were involved are no longer with
us. For sure, Porter-Gaud will be an even better place as a result of these
tragic occurrences."
Young emphasized in an interview that the verdict would
not shut down the school.
According to South Carolina law, a charitable
organization can pay only $250,000 in damages. The school is affiliated with the
Episcopal Diocese.
"Even though a quarter million dollars is a lot of
money," Young said, "the school will not go under as a result of
Fischer's unforeseeable criminal acts."
Glover also sued the estates of two deceased school
officials, longtime headmaster Berkeley Grimball and Principal James Bishop
Alexander.
Young said the estates of Grimball and Alexander are
covered by the school's insurance policy, but that the policy's limit is much
less than $15 million.
He added that the school has been trying to urge the
insurance company and Fischer's victims and their parents to settle their cases
out of court.
"The ramifications of going to a jury can be
significant," Young said after the jury's decision. "That was a
significant verdict."
Four cases have been settled out of court; nine
lawsuits against the school are pending.
The largest previous actual damage award by a
Charleston County jury was in 1997 when Hill-Rom, a North Charleston hospital
bed manufacturer, was hit with an $11 million actual damages verdict. The jury
also awarded an additional $10 million in punitive damages.
That award, however, was eclipsed by a $262.5 million
verdict against Chrysler by a federal jury in Charleston.
Wednesday's verdict followed impassioned speeches by
attorneys on both sides of the case.
David Flowers, one of Glover's attorneys, spoke first.
Holding a color photo of Glover and his son standing in
a tomato field, Flowers pieced together the plaintiff's case, starting with a
parent's complaint about Fischer in 1973. Grimball testified in a sworn
deposition before he died that he put Fischer on probation after the parents
complained that Fischer was being "too intimate" with their son.
Flowers then pointed to a blown-up reproduction of
contracts showing that after the 1973 complaint, the school gave Fischer more
responsibilities and access to children.
"In 1975, Eddie Fischer was made the
upper-school's disciplinarian," Flowers said. "He was the guy Berkeley
Grimball wanted the kids to go to when they got in trouble."
That was the same year Fischer began molesting Guerry
Glover, a 10-year-old student at the school at the time.
Motioning toward a time line, Flowers said that in
1979, a student woke up on Fischer's bed naked and noticed Fischer and the
school's principal, James Bishop Alexander, standing at the door looking at him.
Flowers then recalled the testimony of another student,
William Baker, who said he had sexual contact with Alexander when he was a
child.
Flowers asked: Why didn't Alexander stop Fischer from
abusing children in 1979?
He paused. "Because (Alexander) was doing the same
thing."
Flowers told the jurors they shouldn't consider Eddie
Fischer's culpability in their deliberations. Noting Fischer pleaded guilty to
an array of sex abuse charges a year and a half ago, Flowers added, "Eddie
Fischer accepted responsibility. The reason we're here today is that he's the
only one who has accepted responsibility."
He described Eddie Fischer as "an animal"
that Porter-Gaud could have "put in a cage."
"If you go to a circus and a lion attacks your
child, who do you blame? The lion? Or the lion tamer?"
He described Harold Glover as a decent man whose heart
was broken by what happened to his son, Guerry. Glover was especially
disappointed in Alexander, a family friend who had been in his eldest son's
wedding.
"How dare they unleash Eddie Fischer on (Guerry)
and then come in and tell you that it was Harold Glover's fault?" Flowers
said of Porter-Gaud's legal strategy. "How dare they!"
Flowers said the value of the relationship between a
parent and a child is immeasurable, and concluded his remarks by asking the
jury, "You tell the school what this bond is worth in this community."
Porter-Gaud's attorney, Bobby Stepp, spoke quietly
first in his closing statement, saying "this has been a case calculated
from the beginning to appeal to your emotions."
His voice rising, he asked jurors to discard their
emotions and judge the case on the evidence alone, which he said, "raises
questions you might find disturbing."
He said Flower's arguments were a "soapbox built
on the clarity of hindsight" and that the school in 1973 didn't receive
clear notice that Fischer was a danger.
"Berkeley Grimball," Stepp added,
"should not be charged with having to see into the future."
Of the 1979 incident at Fischer's house, Stepp said,
"that testimony was very dramatic, but I ask you to consider whether it's
very credible."
Of the former student who testified that he was
molested by Alexander, Stepp said, "You can say things about people when
they're dead that are hard to refute." (Alexander killed himself shortly
before he was to give a deposition in the lawsuit.) Stepp then turned his
attention to the issue of damages. "C'mon folks, let's be reasonable.
Harold Glover was not physically injured. He was not sexually abused. He did not
lose a limb. He suffered emotional distress."
The jury was first asked whether the school was grossly
negligent in its dealings with Fischer.
The six men and six women took 10 minutes to answer
yes.
The judge then sent them back into the jury room with
several pages of questions.
After an hour, a juror knocked on the door and said
they had made a decision. Circuit Judge Daniel Pieper studied the forms for
several minutes, glancing once at Porter-Gaud's attorneys.
As the clerk announced the verdict, Guerry Glover and
his brother and sister hugged and quietly cried. Their father was unable to
attend the trial because of a life-threatening illness. Porter-Gaud's attorneys
and an attorney for the school's insurance company showed no emotion.
Whether Glover will collect the full $15 million is an
open question. Because of appeals and settlements, plaintiffs typically collect
only a fraction of large verdicts, and it's unclear how much the school's
insurance company and the estates of Alexander and Grimball will be able to pay.
"No matter what the outcome, Guerry Glover and his
classmates who came forward have been incredible role models," said Anne
Lee, director of Darkness to Light, a group trying to raise awareness of sexual
abuse issues.
"Because of their courage and tenacity, they have
changed perceptions about sexual abuse and helped create a climate in Charleston
that's more safe for our children."