Milwaukee Jury Awards $4.1 Million to Sexual Assault Survivor

Karlos Soriano-Cabrera co-owned C-Viche, a Peruvian-influenced restaurant with locations in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee and in nearby Shorewood. Over a span of years he sexually assaulted multiple women, several of whom had connections to his restaurants. One of those survivors pursued her own claim in civil court, separate from the criminal case the state brought against him.

Prosecutors charged Soriano-Cabrera in 2023 with assaulting at least five women, some of them employees. In June 2024 a Milwaukee County jury convicted him on four counts: three counts of third-degree sexual assault and one count of fourth-degree sexual assault. The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of extended supervision. DNA evidence connected him to two of the women who testified, and one of them described waking up injured after sharing a drink with him.

A criminal conviction punishes the crime, but it does not compensate the person who was harmed. Jason Knutson of Habush Habush & Rottier represented one of the survivors and filed a civil lawsuit on her behalf, seeking damages for the lasting effects of the assault.

The civil claim reached trial in Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2025. Knutson presented the assault and its consequences to a jury, building on facts that the criminal proceeding had already established. The defense had little room to contest the underlying conduct after the earlier guilty verdicts.

In June 2025 the jury returned a verdict of $4.1 million. The award included $3.1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages, the punitive portion intended to punish the conduct and discourage anyone from repeating it.

Knutson framed the civil verdict as a form of recognition for the woman he represented. "Civil cases like this can help provide some measure of accountability of the assailant, and acknowledgment for the victim," he said. He added that sexual assault cases remain difficult to pursue and that much still needs to change in how survivors are treated by the legal system.

Soriano-Cabrera was already serving his prison sentence when the jury reached its decision. No reduction or remittitur of the $4.1 million award has been reported.