The award came after about 10 hours of deliberations at the close of a three-week trial. The Sawyers, of Motley, Minn., cried as the verdict was read. Thomas Jacobson, an attorney for Midelfort, and Thomas Misfeldt, Lausted' s attorney, didn' t comment. The case centered around the phenomenon of False Memory Syndrome. Supporters define it as a psychological condition in which a person believes he or she remembers events that have not occurred.
Opponents say there is no such condition, but the term can be used to hide past abuse.
Nancy Anneatra, then Nancy Sawyer, received counseling in 1984 from Lausted and a psychiatrist not named in the lawsuit. After a year of treatment, Anneatra, then in her 20s, accused her parents of physically and sexually abusing her as a child. The Sawyers denied the abuse, but Anneatra severed all ties with them and changed her name to make it difficult to find her. She continued to receive counseling and in 1987 came under the treatment of Midelfort. One year later she sued her parents for civil damages for the claimed abuse.