Hagens Berman achieved a judgment of $4,031,000 awarded to their client in a King County Superior Court lawsuit stemming from eight years of sexual abuse endured by the firm’s client as a minor, at the hands of her brother-in-law, Joshua Willis.
The lawsuit states that from 2005 to 2012, the case’s defendant repeatedly sexually abused Hagens Berman’s client. She was only eleven years old when the abuse began and was a minor during the entire duration of the abuse. In 2013, the state of Washington charged Willis with three counts of child molestation, to which he pled guilty. Court documents state, “Joshua Blaine Willis used his position of trust, confidence, or fiduciary responsibility to facilitate the commission of the … offense[s]…”
Court documents in the civil case filed in June of 2017 detail Willis’ highly disgusting and horrifying actions including groping and molestation, exposing himself and other highly sexual and inappropriate behavior.
Following the years of sexual abuse, Hagens Berman’s client suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the court awarded damages for treatment of her condition and other emotional distress, as well as loss of earning capacity and other economic damages in her “struggle with consistency and stability.”
CASE TIMELINE
Judge Suzanne Parisien issued the judgment on July 25, 2018, following the case’s summary judgment announced by the Honorable Douglass A. North.
