Allred to Join Appeal on Behalf of Rape Victim Denied Damages

Standing at the bedside of a brain-damaged woman who was raped in a nursing home, feminist attorney Gloria Allred announced Tuesday that she is joining in an appeal of a judge’s decision that bars the woman from collecting $7.5 million awarded her by a civil court jury.

Last week, San Fernando Superior Court Judge David M. Schacter set aside the award to Andrea Nerpel, a 39-year-old accident victim who was raped in 1982 at the Laurelwood Convalescent Hospital in North Hollywood. As a result, Nerpel became pregnant, had an abortion and was later sterilized.

Schacter said Nerpel’s attorney, Alan J. Schultz, offered no evidence to challenge defense contentions that Nerpel had not suffered from the incident.

Allred, representing the Women’s Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund, said she will file a brief asking the state Court of Appeal to rule that judges and jurors assume that a rape victim has been harmed by the crime, even if she cannot testify about her suffering.

“A person who is raped should be presumed to be damaged, and the jury can then decide the amount of the damage award based on the circumstances,” Allred said.

During the civil trial, defense attorney Richard B. Castle, representing the nursing home, argued that Nerpel was semi-comatose and did not realize she had been raped. Nerpel, who cannot speak, could not testify, and no medical records were ever introduced.

As the law now stands, an attorney representing a rape victim in a civil trial must prove damages. Allred said Schacter’s ruling may be legally correct, but she said, “New law has to be made on the issue.” No appellate court in the country has ever ruled on such a case before, she said.

In overturning the jury verdict, Schacter said that Schultz failed to prove that Laurelwood was negligent in caring for Nerpel and that its negligence led to her rape. Allred said her brief will not address that issue, just the issue of the damages.

“There should be a presumption that she was damaged,” Allred said. “There was no dispute that she was raped and that there were certain consequences of the rape. I think that should be sufficient to prove damages. Surely her body underwent some stress from this, even if she can’t testify.”

Allred said the law must be changed to deter future rapists from attacking brain-damaged or comatose women and to encourage nursing homes and other health-care facilities to provide sufficient security for their patients.

Unless Schacter’s decision is overturned, she said, nursing homes and hospitals “will be aware that even if their patients are sexually assaulted while under their care, they will not be forced to pay damages for the act . . . unless the victim can communicate her pain.”

“I would hope that the court on appeal would decide that a brain-damaged woman is not fair game for a rapist because of her condition,” she said.

Allred made her announcement at a press conference in Nerpel’s room at the Laurelwood Convalescent Hospital, where Nerpel has continued to live.

Eliane Rose, Nerpel’s grandmother and only living relative, said a doctor told her that rapes are common in nursing homes. She said she believes that the Laurelwood staff will take better care of her granddaughter as a result of the tragedy.

During the conference, Nerpel turned her head away from the bright lights of the television cameras and from the strangers in her room. After speaking, Allred presented Nerpel with a bouquet of roses. Nerpel swatted at the flowers, then grabbed her grandmother’s hand.