South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Jurors in southern Palm Beach County, Florida returned a personal injury verdict in the amount of $27 million for a teenage girl who was sexually abused by a family friend. On November 4, the Boca Raton jury awarded the girl $7 million in her personal injury case for mental anguish and $20 million in punitive damages. The girl was fondled by the man, Pratak Siriwat of Delray Beach, while he taught her guitar lessons in his home in 2004. The south Florida girl, whose name is not being printed due to her age, is now 16.

According to her south Florida personal injury lawyer, the girl suffered significant emotional damage. Siriwat denied responsibility throughout the trial. The verdict in the victim’s favor was “therapeutic” because it is a public recognition of the harm the former family friend caused her. The victim believes that this acknowledgement of the harm inflicted will allow her to move on with her life. Boca Raton police investigated the allegations of sexual abuse and the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office initially filed charged, but the criminal charged were later dropped. As a result, Siriwat faced a civil jury in the victim’s personal injury case, but was not subject to criminal penalties. There is not yet any information on whether or not Siliwat plans to file an appeal in this case to challenge the finding or the large verdict.

Situations in which victims can win personal injury lawsuits without a criminal verdict, despite allegations of criminal behavior, are fairly common. This case is similar to the famous O.J. Simpson case, in which Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges related to the murder of his Nicole Brown Simpson, his ex-wife, and Ronald Goldman. The jury in that case did not find that the prosecution proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt, which requires a very high degree of proof. However, Simpson later lost a civil case filed by the Goldman family arising from the same matter. The Goldmans were awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages for the wrongful death of Ronald Goldman. Discrepancies like these can occur because the standard in civil cases is much lower than in criminal. The plaintiff must only prove that he was injured and that the defendant was responsible for his damages by a preponderance of the evidence, which is generally interpreted to mean ‘more likely than not.’ It was easier, then, for the Goldman family to show that O.J. Simpson was liable than it was for the prosecutors to demonstrate that Simpson was criminally culpable.