The last of a series of lawsuits against Stephen Cartisano, founder of the Challenger wilderness therapy program, has been settled out of court.
Seven lawsuits were filed against Cartisano and Challenger in federal court in Salt Lake City, but none ever went to trial.The final settlement came last week in a case brought by Christina Bennett of Georgia, who accused Cartisano and Challenger in March 1993 of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and breach of contract.
Bennett's son, Timothy Temple of Stone Mountain, Ga., was enrolled in Challenger in 1990 when he was 13. During his 11 days in the program, he was frequently denied food and water, ordered on forced marches through the southern Utah desert, was refused medication for an illness, was threatened by counselors and was told to use sagebrush in lieu of toilet paper, the suit alleged.
"Timothy Temple was held in the Challenger program in virtual prison conditions, devoid of any accepted teaching or counseling techniques," attorneys for Bennett said in court documents.
Attorneys representing Cartisano and his insurance company denied Bennett's accusations, contending that any emotional or physical damages "resulting to Timothy Temple were the fault of him or his parents."
The case was set to go to trial last Friday, but the sides reached a settlement of an undisclosed amount.
Cartisano was acquitted in the 1990 death of Kristen Chase, who died while in the Challenger program during a hike in Kane County. Upon seeing a television program regarding Cartisano and Chase's death, Bennett called Challenger and ordered her son removed from the program immediately.
Cartisano has filed for bankruptcy and is believed to be living in the Midwest. Since being banned from operating wilderness therapy programs in Utah, he has been involved in various teen treatment ventures in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.