Disabled Girl Gets $300,000 in Sex Case

An Orange County Superior Court jury has awarded $300,000 to the family of a blind quadriplegic girl who was molested four years ago at a Garden Grove home for the disabled.

The girl, who cannot speak and is mentally retarded, was 8 years old when staffers at Hylond Home found an intruder undressing her in the bathroom in October, 1986.

Jurors determined Monday that the girl, now 12, should receive $150,000 from Hylond for negligence and that her parents should receive $75,000 each. The jury, however, did not assign punitive damages.

Hylond staffers told police that the intruder, a man in his 20s, was taken to an office after he was discovered disrobing the girl but managed to escape while police were being called. Staffers said the man had been seen in the home on three or four occasions before the incident. The man was never arrested.

Douglas M. DeGrave, the attorney for the girl’s family, said that there have been incidents of molestation of patients since his clients’ daughter was molested.

Hylond attorney Joseph D. McNeil said security at the home has been increased since the 1986 incident. He said that he and Beverly Enterprises, the owners of Hylond, have not decided whether to appeal the jury’s award.