ROME, Ga. — An appeals court ruled earlier this month that insurance companies are not required to pay $345 million of a $351 million settlement involving a north Georgia boarding school.
The decision impacts 20 former students at the Darlington School in Rome who reached an agreement years ago following allegations of sexual abuse at the school.
The ruling was based on the timing of the alleged abuse. The court found that the insurance providers do not have to pay their share because the abuse occurred before the school was covered by those specific companies’ policies.
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The 20 victims say Roger Stifflemire, a former teacher and dorm parent at the boarding school, used his position of authority to sexually abuse students as young as 8 years old in his car, his apartment and various off-campus locations.
The abuse is alleged to have occurred over a 20-year period.
Tim Lee is one of the former students involved in the lawsuit. Lee previously described how the teacher targeted specific children.
“I think I fit his profile, coming from a household and I had very boyish looks,” Lee said.
He also detailed the nature of the encounters at the teacher’s residence.
“I would leave his apartment whenever I felt I had fulfilled his expectations,” Lee said.
Darren Penn, the attorney representing the victims, said the court’s decision effectively erases years of effort to secure compensation.
“I mean, it’s devastating on many levels,” Penn said. “To have all of that just thrown out and kind of erased in one fell swoop.”
The court’s decision turned on when the insurance policies were active relative to when the abuse began. Penn argued that the nature of the trauma should qualify for coverage under later policies.
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“The injuries that occur to these individuals are lifetime injuries and the policies cover injuries that occurred within the policy periods, not when they started,” Penn said.
The insurance provider that covered the Darlington School during the majority of the years when the abuse allegedly occurred has since gone out of business.
Because that company is defunct, the victims were reliant on coverage from subsequent providers.
If the appeals court ruling remains unchanged, the total settlement for the 20 victims will be $6 million rather than the original $351 million.
Penn said the victims plan to appeal the decision to the Georgia Supreme Court. He noted that the group remains committed to pursuing the full settlement amount.
“I will tell you that even though this is devastating to these clients, they have resolved and they’re not going to go away,” Penn said.
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