Federal Jury Awards $4.5 Million to Biddeford Woman Abused as a Child by Longtime Family Friend

Philip Chenevert met Julia Russell's father when they were teenagers growing up in Biddeford Pool in the late 1960s. By the time Russell was born, Chenevert was a groomsman at her parents' wedding and a fixture at their home in Saco, joining the family for weekly dinners and holiday celebrations. That closeness made him, in the words used at trial, a surrogate father figure to Russell. It also gave him repeated, unsupervised access to her.

Russell alleged that Chenevert began sexually abusing her around 1992, when she was approximately six years old. The abuse continued across multiple occasions through 1994. Chenevert, who had relocated to St. Augustine, Florida, denied all of the allegations. His defense argued that memories of events from early childhood can distort over decades of time.

The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. Taylor Asen of Gideon Asen LLC tried the case for Russell. Over four days of testimony, jurors heard detailed accounts of the abuse from Russell herself, including a full day of her direct testimony. Two other women, who had learned of Russell's lawsuit through news coverage, testified that Chenevert had also abused them.

The jury deliberated for more than two hours before returning a verdict on January 27, 2023. It found Chenevert liable on two civil counts: assault and battery, and infliction of emotional distress. The award totaled $4.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, placing it among the largest civil sexual abuse verdicts in Maine's history. Following the verdict, a criminal report was filed with authorities. No criminal charges had been filed as of the time of press coverage, and no appellate reduction of the damages award has been publicly reported.