Appeals court upholds $900,000 judgement for granddaughter who said she was berated by televangelist after being raped

A state appeals court has upheld a $900,000 judgement awarded to the granddaughter of late televangelist Jan Crouch, who alleged that when she was 13-years-old the minister blamed and berated her for being raped by a church employee.

A panel of appellate judges in a written ruling released Thursday disregarded arguments by attorneys for Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana that Jan Crouch’s conduct constituted “grandmotherly scolding or irascible behavior” and that Carra Crouch “endured nothing more than insults, petty indignities and annoyances.”

“We conclude that Jan Crouch’s behavior toward Carra was sufficiently extreme and outrageous to impose liability for (infliction of emotional distress),” the judges wrote in their ruling. “Yelling at a 13-year-old girl who had been drugged and raped that she was stupid and she was at fault exceeds all possible bounds of decency. By telling Carra that she was at fault, Jan Crouch displayed a reckless disregard for the almost certain emotional distress Carra would, and did, suffer.”

Jurors initially awarded Carra Crouch $2 million in damages after determining that Jan Crouch, who co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network empire with her late husband Paul, caused her years of emotional pain and suffering. That judgement was later lowered to $900,000 by the trial court judge.

In 2006, Carra Crouch was drugged and raped by a 30-year-old employee of Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana while staying in a hotel room during a trip to Atlanta, Georgia for a Praise-A-Thon fundraiser, the appeals court judges wrote.

Upon returning to California, Carra and her mother went to see Carra’s grandmother, Jan Crouch, who at the time was serving as a Trinity officer and director, and who had been responsible for overseeing the telethon.

When Carra Crouch’s mother explained what happened, Jan Crouch “flew into a tirade” and blamed Carra, telling her “she was the one who allowed it to happen,” the appeals judges wrote. Carra Crouch was left devastated, the judges added.

The appellate judges also determined that there was enough evidence to show that Jan Crouch was acting in her authority as an officer or director of Trinity Christian Center, leaving the organization open for liability.