Eight More Reardon Victims Settle Lawsuits against St. Francis

By Edmund H. Mahony
Hartford Courant
January 4, 2012

http://www.courant.com/health/connecticut/hc-stfrancis-0105-20120104,0,6660453.story

St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and one of its insurers have settled with another eight of the 150 victims who sued after they were sexually abused as children by the hospital's former chief endocrinologist, Dr. George Reardon.

The most recent settlements, all of which involve insurance coverage provided solely by The Travelers Cos., leave about 39 suits pending. Resolution of the remaining cases has been complicated by a dispute among hospital insurers over what kind of coverage is triggered by the abuse and how the cost of damages should be divided.

Reardon worked at the hospital from 1963 until 1993, when complaints about his behavior reached state medical regulators. He used a so-called study of child growth rates as a pretext to abuse and collect obscene photographs of 500 or more children over the 30 years.

The eight victims involved in the most recent, confidential settlement were abused prior to 1981, a period for which Travelers had all the hospital insurance coverage. A month ago, the hospital settled with 17 other victims who were abused after the mid-1980s when the hospital was insured by the Evanston and Pacific Employers insurance companies or insured itself.

Between 1980 and '85, Travelers, Pacific and Evanston shared the St. Francis coverage. Last year, the three insurers and St. Francis landed in federal court in a dispute that arose when Travelers asserted that Reardon's abuse triggered the hospital's professional, rather than general liability, coverage.

Should Travelers prevail in the dispute, the amount of the hospital's coverage would be limited and much of the cost of covering abuse during the early 1980s would shift from Travelers and Evanston to Pacific.

Travelers would not discuss the eight settlements, which were mediated by state Superior Court Judge Robert L. Holzberg. Others said Travelers proposed the eight settlements when Holzberg pushed to resolve cases that fall outside the coverage dispute.

South Windsor attorney Michael Lanza who sued in behalf of two of the eight victims, called the settlement "life-changing" for his clients.

"This will provide them with stability they did not have before," he said.

Lanza said his clients are siblings, but would not elaborate. Reardon's victims have been allowed to sue anonymously.

It was not uncommon for Reardon to abuse multiple children from a single family. There has been evidence presented in court that Reardon persuaded parents to enroll their children in what he presented to them as a study that would help children with growth disorders.

Attorneys involved in the eight settlements would not discuss their value.

In past cases, the size of awards to victims has varied depending on the nature and duration of the abuse, its effect on the victims and the age of the victims, who were both boys and girls.

Eight months ago, 32 victims settled as a group for about $17 million. In the only trial that has reached a verdict, a jury awarded a single victim $2.75 million in July. Two lawyers involved in Reardon cases said Wednesday that, for the purposes of negotiation, the cost of Reardon's abuse has been valued on an average basis at between $500,000 and $600,000.

Parties involved in the mediation process said additional settlements could be reached before spring, when a jury is scheduled to be seated in the next trial of an abuse suit against St. Franicis.

The hospital, operating for years in the shadow of one of the most egregious cases ever of sexual abuse by a medical professional, is pushing for settlements. St. Francis absorbed part of the costs of the 17 settlements last month, a person familiar with the process said.

Reardon died in 1998. In 2007, the new owners of his West Hartford home found more than 60,000 pornographic slides of children hidden behind a false wall, many of them taken in Reardon's hospital office.

As a result of the discovery of the slides, all of the victims with pending suits have slides of Reardon abusing them. The slides eliminate any doubt that the abuse occurred and have resulted in strong emotional reactions when displayed to jurors.

Contact: emahony@courant.com