NEW YORK, NY, June 13, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A Federal jury in Erie County, PA, has awarded 20 year old Kenny Bryan 8.7 million dollars in damages.
Bryan claims he suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of a deeply disturbed foster teen who was placed in his parental home when he was a child of 9.
Bryan was adopted in 2004 by Paul and Bonnie Bryan.
Client's civil rights violated: Teen with history of sexual offences placed in his adoptive home
Implicated in this award are former Erie County OCY caseworkers Cindy Baxter and Renie Skalko , whom the jury believes violated Bryan's civil rights in 2001, by placing a teen - referred to in court as "J.O." - with a known history of sexual offenses in a home in which a juvenile resided.
Bryan had to be hospitalized numerous times for debilitating psychiatric conditions stemming from the trauma of these sexual assaults.
Deratany: "Foster care system is broken"
One of the attorneys for Bryan and his parents, Jay Paul Deratany, told a reporter for GoErie.com News:
"The foster-care system in this entire country is broken," Deratany said. "There are too many kids who are placed too quickly without enough thought. In defense of Erie County Office of Children and Youth, they need reform, but they also need help for making those reforms. We need legislation to guide it. It goes all the way up the chain."
Deratany is a Chicago attorney and founder of the Jay Paul Deratany firm, whose practice handles personal injury litigation. He has won multi-million dollar awards for his clients; these monetary settlements are among the highest in Cook County history.
Deratany is also a prominent local figure who has run for Cook County Board of Review. Nationally and internationally, he has been lauded by the Campaign for Human Rights and by civil liberties advocates for his role as playwright of "Haram Iran", which debuted in the Chicago Theater district in 2008.
Deratany has also been a philanthropist and advocate of health and education aid for the disenfranchised.
("In the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
Kenny Bryan, Plaintiff
Cindy Baxter, Renie Skalko, Defendants
Case no. 03-259 Erie
Judge Sean J. McLaughlin")
Website: http://www.lawinjury.com/
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