$134 Million Jury Verdict for Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivor Leads to Ohio Supreme Court Constitutional Ruling

Roy Pompa sexually abused a girl beginning when she was eleven years old, drugging her before assaults and recording the incidents over roughly eighteen months. He was criminally convicted in 2007 on 93 counts, including 17 counts of rape and 5 counts of kidnapping, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The survivor, Amanda Brandt, filed a civil lawsuit in 2018.

At trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, The Fitch Law Firm attorneys John Fitch and Kirstin Peterson presented evidence of the severe and lasting psychological harm Brandt had suffered: chronic PTSD, anxiety, nightmares, periods of homelessness, and suicide attempts. The jury returned a verdict of $134 million, comprising $14 million in noneconomic damages for abuse occurring before April 6, 2005, $20 million in noneconomic damages for abuse occurring after that date, and $100 million in punitive damages.

The post-2005 portion became the legal flashpoint. Ohio's 2005 tort reform statute, R.C. 2315.18, capped noneconomic damages at $250,000. The trial court applied the cap and reduced the $20 million award to $250,000. Brandt appealed on constitutional grounds, but the Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed the reduction in March 2021.

The Ohio Supreme Court accepted the case and, in December 2022, reversed in a 4-3 decision. The majority held that the damages cap violated the Ohio Constitution as applied to a child victim who sustained permanent and severe psychological injuries from intentional criminal sexual conduct. The court reinstated the full $20 million noneconomic damages award, bringing the enforceable judgment back to $134 million.

The ruling did not strike down the cap categorically. It held, on an as-applied basis, that the constitution prohibits the legislature from limiting compensation for this category of harm to a fraction of what a jury found necessary. The $100 million punitive damages award and the $14 million for pre-2005 abuse were never subject to the cap and remained intact throughout the appellate proceedings.