The Press Democrat, November 8, 1986

“$900,000 Molest Suit Settlement”

By Mike Geniella

Press Democrat Bureau

UKIAH – On the eve of a Mendocino County Superior Court trial this week, operators of the popular Orr Hot Springs Resort settled for nearly $900,000 a civil lawsuit that accused three former workers of sexually molesting five children.

Before the agreement was reached, resort attorneys sought to delay the trial because of a recent and widely publicized $1.3 million award involving a former Mendocino County surgeon accused of molesting numerous women patients.

They claimed the award coming “a mere three days” before the scheduled start Monday of the Orr Springs trial prejudiced the three defendants’ chances, particularly in a “rural community like Ukiah.”

 When Judge James Luther denied the request, however, attorneys and the insurance carriers involved hammered out a settlement announced to jurors the morning the trial was to begin.

The incidents at Orr Hot Springs – which the plaintiffs’ attorneys labeled a “clothing-optional” family resort – occurred over a five-year period ending in 1982, according to the lawsuit.

The three accused workers, including the staff masseuse who once served as president of the business collective operating the resort, are no longer connected to the resort, according to attorneys involved on both sides.

They were identified in the suit as Robert Danzer, Bernard Stanert and Robert Cox, according to court files.

“As soon as the allegations surfaced, they were ordered to leave and they have not come back since, “ said a resort spokesman, who asked not to be named.

Only Danzer ever went to court on criminal charges in the case, according to documents on file with the court.

In June 1983 he was accused of felony child molesting, but by August of that year the charge was reduced by the District Attorney’s office to a misdemeanor count. He then was placed on probation, according to court records.

Under terms of the settlement, $450,000 will be distributed in the form of annuities to a young girl who was two years old when she was first molested.

The suit contended the incidents occurred repeatedly over a four-year period while the child lived with her mother at the 28-acre resort, located several miles west of Ukiah. Four  other children – ranging in age from 5 to 13 at the time of the incidents – were awarded $100,000 each in the form of annuities. Three of the children’s parents are to receive $15,000 each in damages. Attorney Maja Hanks of San Francisco said the award actually will total far more because of the annuity payments, but she said Friday the figure is unknown because a final disbursement plan had not been worked out.

Orr Springs, once the site of a stagecoach stop between Ukiah and the village of Mendocino, is a business collective whose members sell their services and crafts at the resort, according to court documents.

There are between 10 and 16 permanent residents living at the resort, which has numerous cabins, common meeting rooms and a camping area, the files state.