Jury awards $25M to ex-Bay Shore student after finding school district liable for ignoring sexual abuse allegations against former teacher Thomas Bernagozzi

A Suffolk jury awarded $25 million in damages to a former Bay Shore Union Free School District student they found was sexually abused by his third grade teacher years after the district received prior reports of abuse by the educator, the largest award to a Long Island student under the Child Victims Act.

The plaintiff, identified only as P.L. in court documents, testified at the damages trial Friday before Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Christopher Modelewski in Riverhead to decades of anxiety, depression and intimacy issues, which a forensic psychologist told the jury stemmed from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the alleged abuse by former teacher Thomas Bernagozzi.

Plaintiff's attorney Jeffrey Herman, of Herman Law Group in Manhattan, called the liability and damage verdicts a "great" win.

"The real victory was yesterday when the jury ruled that the district was reckless in the protection of these boys," Herman said. "My client is here not just for himself, but he's also standing up for all the other boys who were betrayed by the district."

Attorney Lewis Silverman, of Silverman and Associates in White Plains, representing the school district, declined to comment.

In a letter to the community shared with Newsday, Bay Shore Superintendent Steven Maloney said the district is reviewing its options.

"The District recognizes the impact that this trial has had on the Bay Shore-Brightwaters community," Maloney wrote. "We are dedicated to moving forward on a path that brings the community together. The health, safety, and well-being of all students remains our top priority."

The jury on Thursday found the Bay Shore school district liable for negligence in supervision and acting with reckless disregard for retaining Bernagozzi as a teacher despite reports by a parent and former student of prior abuse by the educator in the three years before the plaintiff was an 8-year-old student in his class at Gardiner Manor Elementary School in 1990-91. Bernagozzi, whom the district filed a third-party complaint against, was not held liable. Newsday does not name victims of alleged sexual abuse or assault.

The Child Victims Act is a state law that opened a temporary window for alleged victims of child sex abuse to file claims seeking damages. The jury in the only prior CVA case involving a Long Island school district to go to trial found in favor of the Herricks school district, Newsday previously reported.

To date there have been at least 89 settlements involving public school districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties, totaling $111.2 million, according to a Newsday database. The largest individual payout was previously $8 million to a former Cold Spring Harbor school district student abused in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Newsday found.

Of the $25 million awarded to the former student, $7 million was for future pain and suffering. The $18 million for damages from the time of the abuse to the present day was $4 million more that the plaintiff sought.

The Bay Shore Board of Education previously approved a bond to cover $20 million in settlements with five other students who filed CVA claims involving abuse by Bernagozzi, who taught third grade in Bay Shore from 1970-2000. Two other cases were settled through insurance and 37 others are pending.

The 45 CVA claims filed against Bay Shore is the most of any Long Island school district. Bay Shore's annual budget is $197 million.

The plaintiff testified that Bernagozzi touched his genitals and backside while he sat in his lap during class, at after-school activities and on outings to a local health club, public pool and beach. The teacher showered with male students and often spent time with them outside of school, including trips to New York City, the plaintiff and other former students testified. The plaintiff said his abuse continued the entire school year.

Bernagozzi, who was arrested on child sex abuse charges late last year, testified that he would take male students to those places as a reward and said the extra time he spent with students was to provide them with the best possible education, as he testified at trial. The teacher denied ever molesting a student or allowing them to sit on his lap.

The plaintiff testified that the abuse caused him to avoid school and to have difficulties maintaining personal relationships throughout his life and that he has had stomach and cardiac issues. He testified to a pair of arrests by the time he was 25 years old and a suicide attempt around the time of his second brush with the law. He wrote a note and washed a bottle of Xanax down with wine, he told the jury.

"I just wrote that I didn't want to do this anymore," he said of the note. "I didn't want to hurt my family, that I was a failure and that I was just gonna be a constant failure and disappointment, and I didn't want to do it anymore."

He spent a month in a hospital following the suicide attempt, he testified.

Now divorced and living with his mother and a younger sibling in his childhood home, the plaintiff described himself as someone who drinks daily and has frequent panic attacks. He said he thinks of Bernagozzi during moments of intimacy and avoids passing his elementary school.

"Sadness is my life," the plaintiff told the jury when asked by Herman how often he feels sad.

"It would be easier to ask me how often I feel happy," the plaintiff, now 42, said. 

N.G. Berrill, a forensic psychologist from Brooklyn who evaluated and was as an expert witness for the plaintiff, testified of how that’s often the case for children who are sexually abused by an authority figure.

"He has been adversely impacted by the initial exposure to this chronic sex abuse by his teacher, and it really does and did set the tone for becoming extremely anxious, a terribly insecure kid, a kid who suffered from a host of physiological problems," Berrill told the jury.

Berrill testified that the plaintiff suffers from PTSD and has abused alcohol and drugs as a way of coping with the abuse.

 Dr. Randall Solomon, a Long Island psychiatrist who evaluated the plaintiff on behalf of the Bay Shore school district, said the sexual abuse was "one of many aspects" to the symptoms the plaintiff has experienced. Solomon said the plaintiff’s relationship and a betrayal of trust by past romantic partners have combined with genetic health issues and his drug and alcohol abuse to be factors in the mental and physical health problems the plaintiff testified to.

Solomon noted that the plaintiff has been successful in his career in the automotive industry and is currently in a long-term relationship.

"I think he has a lot of resiliency and adaptability," Solomon said in downplaying the overall impact of the alleged sexual abuse. 

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office has since brought charges against Bernagozzi, 75, of Babylon, for sodomy, sexual conduct against a child and possession of child sexual abuse material. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial while in custody at the Suffolk County Jail. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

With Jim Baumbach

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.