Award for Impregnated Girl Is Upheld : Courts: Appellate court lets $300,000 verdict stand. Arguments of high school teacher who fathered child rejected.

A state appellate court has upheld a $300,000 jury award to a 16-year-old girl who became pregnant from her high school teacher.

Gary F. Satrappe, a former teacher with Santa Ana Valley High School, appealed the jury’s award claiming there were evidentiary and instructional errors in the lower court trial, the student’s attorney said.

Justices with the 4th District Court of Appeal unanimously rejected all of Satrappe’s arguments in a 15-page opinion made public Thursday.

According to the opinion, Satrappe had engaged in sexual intercourse with student on 13 occasions over a period of a year, beginning in 1984.

At least one of the sexual encounters occurred after the student dropped out of high school and gave birth to a girl, the opinion stated.

Initially, the student resisted pressure from school officials to identify the baby’s father. But the student’s “desire to protect Satrappe” eventually dissolved and she sued him for battery, negligent infliction of emotional distress and punitive damages, according to the opinion.

On Thursday, the student’s attorney, John B. Horwitz, said he was pleased with the justices’ ruling but said he doubts his client will ever receive the $300,000 because Satrappe does not have the money.

Horwitz said his client, now 22, still lives in Orange County with her child. He said that she is still troubled by her encounter with her teacher.

“The nature of her emotional distress was very real,” he said.

Satrappe resigned from the school district after the affair was made known, Horwitz said.

Satrappe and his attorney could not be reached for comment late Thursday.