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Georgia Jury Awards Rape Survivor $1 Billion in Damages

HeadlineMay 25, 2018

In Georgia, a jury has awarded a record $1 billion in damages to a sexual assault survivor, after finding a security company was negligent when it hired the man who raped her. Hope Cheston was just 14 years old when she was raped by an armed security guard, who was later convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the crime. Jurors were brought in to award damages in the civil suit after a judge found the guard’s employer—Crime Prevention Agency—failed to properly train and screen its officers. After the $1 billion settlement verdict, Cheston’s lawyer, L. Chris Stewart, told The New York Times, “A jury, from now on, will know there is no ceiling on the damages that rape causes to a woman.”

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