Bradley M. Cosgrove, partner at Clifford Law Offices, late Monday (June 29, 2026) obtained a $50 million verdict in Cook County Circuit Court in a case involving an eight-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted by another male camper while a participant in the First Ascent Climbing & Fitness Camp, Chicago owners of the Peoria camp. The case was a record in Illinois, more than doubling the previous record of $21.5 million against a camp in 2018 for a young camper who drowned, according to the Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter. Michal Duda v. Justice Park District, Bridgeview Park District (14L-7775)
The jury initially returned a verdict Monday afternoon of $49 million in compensatory damages and also found the defendant acted willfully and wantonly, which led to the second phase of the trial late Monday afternoon and the unanimous jury verdict of an additional $1 million in punitive damages.
“The event that occurred here is life altering and childhood ending for the little boy,” Cosgrove said following the verdict. “The jury certainly sent a clear message to this camp and camps throughout the country that it is imperative to put in place proper procedures that must be followed when children are involved,” Cosgrove said following the verdict. “These procedures must be communicated to staff and camp counselors who must have sufficient training, experience and awareness of each child’s needs in supervising youngsters who are in their care and who count on these adults to do what is needed to keep them safe.”
The six-woman-six-man jury deliberated just over two hours before determining that the camp was negligent in its lack of supervision, protocols and communication in handling youngsters in 2022 at its new summer camp that led to the rape of the child by another camper. After additional arguments from both sides, the jury deliberated about an hour on punitive damages.
Cosgrove said Monday in his closing argument to a packed standing-room-only courtroom, “They let the kids do whatever they want. There was no order. No structure. No framework. That’s not enough to run a safe camp.”
Attorneys for the defendants placed the blame on the 13-year-old fellow camper who raped the eight-year-old boy in a bathroom, despite the evidence showing the boys were unsupervised for 50 minutes. Key evidence also included that those in charge of the camp registrations were made aware of the older boy’s need for constant supervision through his mother’s indicating her son’s issues on his registration form and in a subsequent conversation told the camp should not be allowed in a bathroom alone. She later told the camp counselors in Peoria of a previous “incident” regarding her son, but that information was never followed up on or questioned by camp counselors in Peoria.
The father of the eight year old sat through the entire trial with his hands to his face, holding back any expression of obvious anguish and devastation. He and the boy’s mother testified Friday through tears and deep emotion of the impact the event had on their young son and will continue to have for the rest of his life. The boy’s father and brother discovered the rape in the camp’s bathroom shower while it was occurring and had to force the older camper to end the sexual assault. Police were called, and a rape kit test was conducted on the minor at the time of the assault that tested positive.
Cosgrove and Charles R. Haskins, also a partner at the firm, filed the lawsuit against the Chicago-based camp on behalf of the parents of the child, a minor whose name is protected under court seal. Attorneys for the plaintiff argued negligent acts that were preventable by the camp, First Ascent, as well as by its supervisors, employees and camp counselors. The camp’s owners have main offices at 3516 N. Spaulding Ave., Chicago.
Attorneys for the young boy also argued willful and wanton conduct against the owners of Kids Climbing Camp, as it was called in Peoria, for the behavior that occurred on July 18, 2022, in its failure to train its employees regarding the proper supervision of children under the defendant’s care and custody at the day camp defendant owns in Peoria.
Cosgrove told the jury in his closing statement earlier in the day that despite the defendant’s employee having been told of a previous “incident” regarding the 13-year-old boy, nothing was done on the part of any camp employees to protect the eight-year-old boy from the older boy being allowed to go into a bathroom alone where the sexual assault occurred on the campgrounds.
In the punitive phase of the trial, Cosgrove spoke on the utter indifference and conscious disregard for the safety of the children in the camp’s care and custody. The defendant reportedly issued a statement of apology following the verdict.
Hon. Eileen O’Connor of the Cook County Circuit Court Law Division presided over the two-week trial.
Case No. 2024 L 7938, John Doe, a minor, v. First Ascent LLC d/b/a First Ascent Climbing & Fitness
