Civil trial begins for woman fondled by chiropractor

Bill Gang

Friday, Dec. 4, 1998 | 11:35 a.m.

In August 1992, Jennifer Fox was just 18 years old when she went to Las Vegas chiropractor Jeffrey Donner seeking treatment for injuries she suffered in an automobile accident.

She got more than treatment, she told authorities. She said Donner fondled her, and when she returned a week later for a second session, the molestation escalated.

Donner eventually pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor sexual misconduct charges involving six patients and lost his license in Nevada, but his problems are not over.

Fox is one of seven women who filed lawsuits against Donner and his Donner Chiropractic Center clinics seeking damages. Opening statements in her trial began Thursday to determine how much she is due.

The criminal conviction, under Nevada law, automatically makes Donner liable in the civil action, so the only question for a jury in District Judge Mark Denton's courtroom is the amount of the damages.

The trial, however, will give details of the illicit contact that her attorney, Robert Eglet, said turned Fox from an "independent, confident, happy girl" into a "shy, insecure woman who is suffering in silence since Donner molested her and robbed her of her dignity."

"She was duped and tricked into letting Donner take advantage of her youth and inexperience," Eglet told the jury.

But Donner's lawyer, Niels Pearson, questioned the validity of Fox's statement and her motives.

In his opening statement, he said the woman changed her story to police after she hired a lawyer, adding details and information she previously had denied in an attempt "to bolster the lawsuit."

Eglet countered that Donner was the one making changes after allegations surfaced and police became involved.

He said the former chiropractor changed Fox's medical records in an attempt to justify the fondling that the teenage patient said she had endured.

"The doctor doctored the records in a desperate attempt to cover his tracks," Eglet said.

He told the jury that after Fox complained to police, Donner Chiropractic Centers billed her for the sessions and turned the bills over to a collection agency when she refused to pay, affecting her credit rating.

This is the second civil trial against Donner over the attacks that occurred six years ago. The first ended in a mistrial earlier this year. The others are scheduled for next year unless out-of-court settlements are reached.

The plea bargain in the criminal case resulted in Donner, 34, being given probation in January 1997. The deal has prevented the current Florida resident from again being a chiropractor and has required him to register as a sex offender.

The benefit to Donner was that the plea bargain let him avoid a trial on 15 criminal charges, including sexual assault counts that could have put him in prison for life. The incidents occurred during 1992 and 1993 at his Las Vegas and North Las Vegas offices, according to the lawsuits.