Woman, 39, Wins $500,000 in Incest Case : Molestation: She brings action against her father under a 1990 law that allows adults to sue for abuses committed against them as children.

When Rebekah Howland underwent psychotherapy as part of her training to become a psychiatrist nearly five years ago, shocking memories began to surface, “gradually, in bits and pieces.”

More than 20 years after the events had taken place, she discovered she had been sexually molested by her father.

Howland, now 39, sued her father, James Howland, and on Monday, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded her $500,000 in damages for what she had endured. Her attorney, Gloria Allred, believes the case may be the first tried under a 1990 California law allowing an adult to sue for acts of child abuse committed years before but long forgotten.

Going through the court process was difficult, said Howland, now a psychiatrist, particularly having to give up her privacy. But she added of her father: “It was important to me that he be held accountable for his actions.”

“I am disappointed with the verdict,” said James Howland, 65, who had denied the allegations, adding that he is conferring with his attorney about a possible appeal of the verdict.

Howland filed her suit in 1990, after a state law was enacted allowing abuse victims to file as adults, despite the time lapse, according to Allred. “This new law creates a new statute of limitations which now permits adults to sue as long as they do so within three years of the memory of the child sexual abuse,” Allred said.

During the trial, Howland testified that from the age of 3 to about 13, her father repeatedly abused her sexually and molested her.

Howland was forced to engage in oral sex as well as painful sexual intercourse, according to Allred: “On one occasion this sexual intercourse injured her hips and she was forced to walk on crutches for three days. No one asked why.”

Howland endured a traumatic childhood, Allred said, but only remembered the events while completing a residency in psychiatry at UCLA in 1987. Howland, a postdoctoral student at UCLA, said this kind of delayed memory is common: “Studies indicate approximately 60% of women who are adult survivors of incest or sexual abuse have delayed memory.”

James Howland, a retired lab technician living in Rowland Heights, said he was shocked by the allegations against him. Although he had contributed to his daughter’s medical education, he said, “my daughter’s relationship with both parents was strained.”

After Howland filed her case, he filed a cross-complaint, saying her allegations had defamed him.

The jury awarded Rebekah Howland $200,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages for her emotional suffering. The panel also found in favor of James Howland’s cross-complaint, but awarded him only $2.