ROMNEY – A Wayne County mother is suing a residential treatment facility, alleging that her son was abused while a resident there.
Dawn Adams filed suit against Burlington United Methodist Family Services Inc. and Brian Lewis on Oct. 6 in Hampshire Circuit Court, citing negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery, invasion of privacy, fraudulent concealment, vicarious liability and false imprisonment.
According to the complaint, Adams' son was a minor while residing at the Burlington facility on May 1, 2012, and was physically and verbally abused by Lewis almost daily. The complaint states that on May 1, 2012, Lewis asked Adams' son to play a game of baseball at the facility with two other residents and on the way to the field, the other residents beat him with a metal pipe while Lewis watched.
The plaintiff alleges that defendant failed to stop her son from being brutally beaten while he recorded the incident, then afterwards, along with two other males, held him down and sodomized the youth. The complaint states that the son was taken to Potomac Valley Hospital for his injuries and Lewis told hospital staff that the injuries were from a football game.
The plaintiff is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees.
The plaintiff is represented by Robert B. Warner, Lynnette Simon Marshall and Andrew D. Byrd of Warner Law Offices in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Charles E. Parsons.
Hampshire Circuit Court case number 15-C-104