URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Last month, a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against a psychiatric facility in Champaign reached a resolution when both parties opted for an out-of-court settlement.

Susan McGrath, serving as the Champaign County Circuit Clerk, confirmed to WCIA that an undisclosed settlement had been approved by Judge Jason Bohm last month, with the case officially closed on Thursday. The settlement details have been sealed and kept from public access by the judge’s order, which McGrath noted is typical when the settlement involves a minor.

The minor, 13 years old at the time, was sexually assaulted in 2020 at The Pavilion Behavioral Health System’s Champaign facility. Represented by Simon Law from St. Louis, the victim’s mother filed a lawsuit the following year and initially secured a $535 million damages award. This amount was later reduced to $180 million upon appeal, ultimately concluding with an out-of-court settlement.

Judge Bohm said in a prior court ruling that that the evidence was overwhelmingly against The Pavilion that their staff’s negligence allowed for the victim to be raped by another teenage patient.

Tim Cronin, the attorney who wrote the complaint filed in the lawsuit, said in that complaint that the victim was admitted to the facility for “mood regulation problems.” Despite her mother being told males and females were housed separately, the victim was placed in a wing of the facility that housed mostly male patients.

Four days after the victim was admitted, Cronin said a 16-year-old male patient was admitted and was placed into the room next to the victim’s. The boy’s intake form included information that he had a history of sexually violent behavior and had previously fled from a community home. The facility he fled warned that he required close observation.

These were facts Cronin said staff at The Pavilion should have been aware of, but took no action on.

The day after the boy was admitted, he and another male patient were recorded smearing toothpaste on the cameras of their unit’s hallway and then intentionally spilling water in the hallway. When an employee was distracted with grabbing a towel, the boys lured the victim into the 16-year-old’s room. While his accomplice stood lookout, the 16-year-old forcibly raped the victim.

Staff at The Pavilion didn’t notice the toothpaste-smeared cameras until the next day, and it was only after they saw the boy whispering to the victim throughout the day that steps were taken to separate them.

They were unaware of the rape until the victim told a staff member the day after that. She completed a rape kit at the hospital, which confirmed she had been raped, and she had injuries consistent with being sexually assaulted.

State’s Attorney Julia Rietz told WCIA that she did not believe her office received a police report on the assault. In any case, the 16-year-old was later killed in a 2022 shooting in St. Louis.

But his death hasn’t stopped the lingering trauma he caused.

The case went to trial a year ago, and a clinical psychologist testified that the victim, then 16, has severe PTSD from the rape. Judge Bohm also described her as experiencing agitation, paranoia, low self-esteem, mistrust of men and depression, among other things. The victim also described having “vivid nightmares” of her attacker killing her for coming forward, even though she knows he can never harm her again.

At one point, the victim was unable to complete her testimony of the attack itself, leaving the witness stand in tears.

Testimony from numerous former and current employees of The Pavilion led Judge Bohm to determine that the pediatric unit of the facility was “already out of control” when the incident occurred. Among other things, the cameras in the unit were not monitored in real time, and none of the employees present saw the boys smearing the camera lenses. The unit was often understaffed and there was “some sort of incident” involving patients almost every day and night.

The jury ruled in favor of victim’s mother, awarding her what Simon Law described as a “historic” amount of $538 million in damages — $20 million for a loss of a normal life, $40 million for pain and suffering and $475 million in punitive damages.

Lawyers for The Pavilion appealed, arguing that the award was excessive because the victim was “likely to continue experiencing improvement.” Reviewing the case, Judge Bohm rejected their argument in part. He did find the punitive damages to be excessive and reduced them to $120 million, saying he was “duty-bound” since there was no evidence of actual malice or intent that anyone be harmed.

“This Court recognizes the enormity of reducing a jury award by well over a quarter billion dollars with the stroke of a pen and does not do so lightly,” Bohm wrote in his ruling.

But he found no injustice on the part of the jury’s compensatory damage award.

“Make no mistake, the compensatory award here is large by any measure. But large does not mean excessive,” Bohm said. “Great harms demand great awards. The forcible rape of this vulnerable 13-year-old girl inflicted great harm, which the jury assessed at $60 million. The Court declines the invitation to reduce the jury’s compensatory damages award.”

The Pavilion’s layers appealed the reduced award to the Fifth District Appellate Court of Illinois, while the victim’s mother filed a motion to quash the appeal. While the appellate court continued to review the case, the two parties attended in March what Champaign County Circuit Clerk Susan McGrath described to WCIA as a “citation hearing” to examine the assets The Pavilion had that could go toward the award.

McGrath said the two parties “didn’t finish everything” during their March citation hearing and another citation hearing was set for May 15. In the two weeks prior to that date, however, steps were taken to begin settling the case.

McGrath said that on May 1, the two parties filed a motion to bring the case out of the appellate court’s jurisdiction and back to the circuit court’s to approve a settlement. On May 15, Judge Bohm approved a settlement between the two parties and a month later, on June 20, The Pavilion filed a motion to vacate the prior $180 million award.

On Thursday, Judge Bohn granted that motion, bringing the case to a close. McGrath also said that a lawyer was appointed in the case to ensure the settlement was in the best interest of the victim.

Lawyers for both the victim’s mother and The Pavilion did not respond to WCIA’s requests for comment.