Woman abused by ex-pastor gets $1.4M
Star Tribune

A jury awarded the damages stemming from an inappropriate parishioner relationship.

A Hennepin County jury has awarded a woman from Winona, Minn., $1.4 million in damages against her former pastor and the Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for trauma caused by sexual abuse by the pastor and the church's governing body's negligence in overseeing him.

On Thursday, the jury awarded Samantha Beach, 40, $410,000 for psychological damage caused by the relationship with Donald Dean Budd, 67, former pastor at McKinley Methodist Church in Winona. On Friday, the jury added a $1 million award for punitive damages.

Budd pleaded guilty in 2009 to two felony counts of sexual abuse for a three-year inappropriate relationship that began when he counseled Beach in 2003 after her grandfather's death. Budd received a sentence of 15 years' probation.

In the civil lawsuit filed in 2009, Beach's attorneys argued that the state church's Annual Conference failed to protect Beach. She alleged the church failed to suspend Budd, rather telling her to no longer attend the church where the abuse had occurred.

Beach's attorney, Robert Hajek, said the jury's finding is significant nationally because it found the conference liable for the pastor's actions. "The jury found that although the conference had the obligation to train him, they didn't, and although they had the obligation to supervise him, they didn't," Hajek said.