A South Carolina federal judge has denied a request to set aside a verdict in which a jury concluded that two daughters had falsely accused their father of sexually abusing them and awarded the father nominal $1 verdicts against his daughters.
David Kozel was acquitted of all criminal charges stemming from his daughters’ allegations after a bench trial in Pennsylvania in 2014. [Both of the daughters were minors at the time the allegations were made, and Lawyers Weekly has chosen to decline to use their first names, even though both are now adults and their first names appear in the court records.]
Kozel then sued his ex-wife, Deborah Kozel, and his daughters, accusing them of defamation and malicious prosecution, respectively, and alleging that the allegations against him were part of a scheme they had concocted as part of a fight over child support payments. The case was transferred to South Carolina, where Deborah Kozel lives, and in June a jury ordered her to pay $175,000 in damages for defamation, in addition to the $1 verdicts against each of the daughters.
During closing arguments, David Kozel’s attorney had asked the jury to forgo punitive damages against his daughters and award an amount based on their ability to pay. In their motion for a new trial, the daughters argued that the jury’s verdict honoring that request was inconsistent, and that their father had effectively invited the jury to “ignore the law” in reaching its verdict and render a verdict that it believed would do no financial harm to the daughters.
But on Nov. 18, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Coggins Jr. denied the motion, saying that it’s up to a jury to determine the amount of damages to be awarded, so long as the award is supported by the evidence and authorized by law.
“Given the familial relationship, Plaintiff’s unique ability to value the non-economic harm suffered by him, and Plaintiff’s theory of the case that his daughters were in many ways victims of their mother’s efforts to extract money from him, the court finds that a reasonable jury could reach this result based upon the evidence of record,” Coggins wrote.
In his complaint, David Kozel alleged that he and his wife had been separated since 1998 and shared custody of their daughters, who were treated by a psychologist, social workers, and therapists and had never mentioned any type of sexual abuse. But as the older daughter’s 18th birthday approached, Deborah demanded that David quadruple his child support payment to $25,000 per month until each of their children turned 21, which he refused to do.
The complaint went on to allege that around that time, Deborah and her daughters began to claim that David had molested the girls as children. One of the daughters claimed that memories of the abuse had been recovered after she underwent eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.
“EMDR is a controversial therapy that is not widely accepted by professional counselors, therapists and other therapy providers,” the complaint states.
The complaint also alleged that Deborah and her personal injury attorney, Michael Spears of Parham Smith & Archenhold in Spartanburg, had persuaded a Pennsylvania detective to press charges against David despite a shoddy investigation. Spears was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, and in May he settled the case for a confidential amount.
Kozel said that the news media in the Pittsburgh area had widely reported the charges against him and that the allegations had cost him $500,000 in legal fees, costs, and expenses.
Heather Heidelbaugh, Steven Toprani, and Patrick Malone of Leech Tischman in Pittsburgh represented David Kozel. Heidelbaugh said the jury returned a unanimous verdict finding that the charges of sexual abuse were a “malicious attempt to gain money.”
James Griffin of Lewis, Babcock and Griffin in Columbia represented Deborah Kozel and the daughters. He called the case “a very difficult situation, and a hard case for everyone involved.”
The 11-page decision denying the motion for a new trial is Kozel v. Kozel (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-061-19), and an opinion digest is available online at sclawyersweekly.com.
Follow Bill Cresenzo on Twitter @bcresenzosclw
VERDICT REPORT — DEFAMATION & MALICIOUS PROSECUTION
Amount: $175,002
Injuries alleged: Emotional distress, defamation, legal costs
Case name: Kozel v. Kozel
Court: U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
Case No.: 7:16-cv-01672
Judge: Donald Coggins Jr.
Date of verdict: June 21
Attorney for plaintiff: Heather Heidelbaugh, Steven Toprani, and Patrick Malone of Leech Tischman in Pittsburgh
Attorney for defendant: James Griffin of Lewis, Babcock and Griffin in Columbia
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