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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Jury Rules in Favor of Man Suing Therapist for Sparking Relationship with his Wife during Counseling


by TaMaryn Waters
Tallahassee Democrat

This is not a made-for-television-movie scenario, but it felt like one for Richard Webb. His 25-year marriage was crumbling so he sought counseling from Kevin Ragsdale from September 2007 to January 2008, court records show.

Within the four-month span of counseling, Webb's wife was brought in to joint counseling sessions.

But Webb didn't know Ragsdale conducted private sessions with his wife and later sparked a relationship.

Webb sued Ragsdale, who married Webb's wife in January 2010, for emotional damages and a Leon County jury has ruled the therapist violated several code of ethics...

<snip>

Dana Brooks, Webb's attorney, said the jury ruled Ragsdale was 65 percent responsible for negligence that caused a "legal cause of harm or loss" to Webb and 35 percent of the negligence was caused by Webb.

Brooks, however, said there was no evidence presented at trial related to Webb's role in negligence.

She plans to file a motion for a post trial hearing.

Brooks said a judge will make a judgment on what the final verdict should be for Webb, including damages, during the post trial, which could be sometime next month.

She said her client, the father of three children ages 14, 18 and 21 during the time of the counseling, said Webb continues to have "a great deal of difficulty on any kind of parenting issues" now that Ragsdale has married his ex-wife.

"My client feels like he is being completing supplanted and replaced," she said.

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Thanks to Ken Pope for this story.

For some reason, the Tallahassee Democrat no longer has the full story on their web site.