Miracle Meadows School Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

$100 Million Settlement May Prompt State To Rethink Internal Insurance Program

Recently, the West Virginia Board of Risk and Management Insurance (BRIM) settled lawsuits totalling more than $100 million in a case of abused and victimized children at the now shut down Miracle Meadows religious boarding school in Harrison County. It follows $52 million in previously settled claims.

Recently, the West Virginia Board of Risk and Management Insurance (BRIM) settled lawsuits totaling more than $100 million in a case of abused and victimized children at the now shut down Miracle Meadows religious boarding school in Harrison County. It follows $52 million in previously settled claims.

In 2020, the West Virginia Legislature passed House Bill 4559 that increased the civil statutes of limitations for child abuse from 22 to 36. This allowed victims to come back years afterward and sue.

In April interim legislative committee meetings, BRIM’s Director Melody Duke told lawmakers the agency may need help to fund anticipated losses.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, was unsure of a legislative funding fix.

“Are we gonna have to bail them out? I don’t know,” Tarr said. “One of the things that we may have to look at is, they insure a lot of nonprofits.”

Tarr said outside of BRIM insuring public entities, they insure more than 100 high-risk nonprofits. He said the state may need to rethink the risks those clients present.

“It’s terrible what happened to those children,” Tarr said. “There’s no money that can make that up for what happened to them. But we also have to take a look at the security of the state and the coffers of the state to be able to pay to operate.”

Tarr said BRIM has been providing lawmakers information about the nonprofits they insure, but he said it’s not an easy decision on who to cover with a state insurance agency.

“It’s not a simple fix to go through and look and see what each one of them does,” Tarr said. “Even when you look at some of these names, you don’t know who they are or what they do without going through one by one and deciding is this something that the state wants to do? Do we want to be in the business of ensuring very high risk organizations?”

Tarr said making decisions on BRIM is a legislative priority.

BRIM representatives declined to talk to West Virginia Public Broadcasting on their financial situation due to ongoing litigation.

State On Hook For Millions In Sex Abuse Settlements

The West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management (BRIM), a state-run insurance program, may experience significant shortfalls if the state legislature doesn’t step in to help — all because of a change to the statute of limitations on child sex abuse crimes. That’s according to testimony from the agency’s director at last week’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary during the April interim meetings of the West Virginia Legislature.

In 2020, the legislature passed House Bill 4559 that increased the civil statutes of limitations for child abuse from 22 to 36. This allowed victims to come back years afterward and sue.

The Miracle Meadows School was a nonprofit Seventh Day Adventist boarding school for children with behavioral issues due to trauma. It was open from 1987 to 2014. A police raid in 2014 revealed children handcuffed in “isolation” rooms as well as dozens of other claims of abuse.

The school was insured by BRIM.

In the years that followed, 27 children sued the school and won a $52 million settlement — the state was responsible for $27 million.

At a recent legislative interim meeting, Melody Duke, BRIM’s director, said up until that point, the school was a “good entity” and their loss ratio was low, meaning they had few claims and paid their premiums.

The 2020 changes to the statute of limitations have opened the doors for many more children who suffered abuse at the school to bring similar suits.

“We have over 110 claims currently pending for individuals who have brought claims,” Duke said. ”It’s opened up from 20 to 36, allowing them to come back and file. And that was funding we do not have because when we collected premiums, that exposure was not there. The statute of limitations when we collected the premium back in those years, was able to end at 20.”

The school went out of business in 2014, so BRIM can’t go back and collect premiums, nor can the agency collect premiums from the other nonprofits since it is outside of the five-year range.

In her explanation of the problem, Duke said that different groups BRIM insures are kept in silos — one for boards of education, one for nonprofit agencies, for example.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, questioned where the money for large payouts comes from.

“What concerns me is we are backing these up with tax dollars,” she said. “Even though you do separate it into different categories, when you guys have to do a huge settlement, when we have some of these nonprofits causing us a major loss, we have to back it up.”

Duke explained that is the first time, by her understanding, that something like this has occurred.

“We feel that some of this is from a development of the statute of limitations change, because that has exacerbated the situation because all these individuals are now able to file claims because they’re over 20, and then to the age of 36,” Duke said. “That’s premium and exposure that was not being able to be collected back in 2014. If that statute had been there, then my actuaries would have helped me to build, to determine premiums that were adequate, hopefully, to fund that.”

Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood, also asked Duke what the legislature will need to do to offset these potential settlement losses from the new round of 110 claims against the school. If any settlement follows the earlier round of payments to the 27 students, the state might be liable for more than $100 million.

“I was able to transfer some excess revenues from that program to the non-state program. That’s going to help me, hopefully, to get through this fiscal year to pay hopefully some of these other claims, the 110 claims I mentioned, but as I’ve got more concrete dollars, I’m going to need some funding to be able to pay those settlements,” Duke said. “The reserves that I have in my non-state program are for everybody in the non-state program. They are not just for one particular entity. I’d be remiss if I used all of my excess money for those payouts. We’ll be looking to the legislature to hopefully maybe get an appropriation to be able to fund those losses.”

Former Head of Salem Boarding School Sentenced for Neglect

The former director of a now-closed Salem boarding school for troubled youths has been sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation for misdemeanor child neglect and other charges.

The Exponent Telegram said Harrison Chief Judge Thomas A. Bedell sentenced 70-year-old Susan Gayle Clark of Pennsboro on Friday and ordered her taken into custody immediately.

The case stems from Clark’s time directing the Miracle Meadows School. She pleaded guilty earlier this year to three misdemeanors: child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury, failure to report and obstructing law enforcement.

Clark received nearly 50 letters of support, and the courtroom was packed with supporters. Bedell said the school’s policy of using handcuffs and isolation rooms wouldn’t have been approved in schools anywhere else.

Judge Asks to See Evidence Before Sentencing School Director

A Harrison County judge has asked attorneys on both sides to turn over evidence before he sentences a woman who has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in connection to her running of a Salem boarding school for troubled youths.

The Exponent Telegram reports that Chief Judge Thomas A. Bedell recently requested to see the evidence in the case of 69-year-old Susan Gayle Clark, who directed the now-closed Miracle Meadows School.

Clark is to be sentenced April 1 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury, misdemeanor failure to report by a mandated reporter and misdemeanor obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Clark says she regrets not firing an employee accused of putting a student in handcuffs. She also has admitted to not properly reporting an accusation of sexual abuse or sexual assault.