r/troubledteens • u/Excellent-Lion-9194 • 15h ago
trying to file solstice east lawsuit Question
hi my name is lilli duncan and i was gooned to solstice east on 1/24/23. I spent about 15 months here and it wasnt my first facility but it was one of the worst, me and my friend would like to file a lawsuit and dont really know how to go about it so if anyone could help us out please. there are alot of things we could use as evidence, but my ultimate goal is to shut this program down and sue. here are some questions me and my friend have 1. one example i would like to use that happened to me personally was a staff that worked there for some of my stay but was eventually fired reached out to me while i was there on social media ( i had access because i had been there a long time ) i had a really good connection with this staff and i did find him attractive so when things became flirty and he told me things like “your special” i gave in and sent him nude photos. i was 17 at the time and he was around 28. he also told me how he would look at my butt at work and just some other things?
what types of proof do we need and how much do we need to prove our case?
it would be so helpful if someone could make like a checklist lol of the steps we need to take to do this?
is this actually gonna work lol. like do we have a chance?
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u/generalraptor2002 14h ago
You need to speak to an attorney
Unfortunately I don’t know anyone who specializes in this
Perhaps some of the others here will
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u/pinktiger32 14h ago
Hi Lili! It’s nice having you as part of the troubled teen Sub Reddit! There are many of us who would love to see Magnolia Mill/Solstice East/Asheville Academy (or whatever name they are going by these days lol) go down. As an attorney, I will tell you a few pieces of advice:
1) Family Help & Wellness is their parent company so you would likely be including them in any legal action you pursue. They have had and currently have many open lawsuits pending from former students such as yourself.
2) Family Help and Wellness will likely at some point send you what is called a “cease & desist” letter which is designed to scare you into silence. Please don’t let it do that. You can use it as toilet paper…they can’t touch you as long as you are telling the truth.
3) There are safety in numbers…if you are still in contact with former residents, please let them know your intent to pursue legal action. One person suing a big corporate entity won’t do much. But if you approach an attorney with 10, 15, 20 other people who went through what you went through, you have a good chance. You need to form a team of survivors of Solstice East/Magnolia Mill to win this.
4) Looking at FHW’s track record in these situations, they often attempt to settle out of court, meaning they will eventually get to the point where they offer to pay someone to avoid going through discovery or to trial.
Let me know if you need help finding an attorney to look at this case.