“Egregious conduct”: Deaf woman ordered to pay at least $223k for stealing from Kendall PTA

[Transcript] A judge from the D.C. Superior Court has ordered a former Kendall Parent Teacher Association treasurer, Jenny Nygaard, to pay back at least $223,000 in compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees to the KPTA.

The KPTA sued Nygaard about six months ago and accused her of stealing almost $80,000 from the KPTA’s bank account when she was a treasurer from 2011 to 2016. The lawsuit said Nygaard used the money in a myriad of ways, such as cruise vacations, flight tickets, mortgage payments, Starbucks gift cards, clothing, and tanning and nail salons. The lawsuit said Nygaard admitted to “financial mismanagement” after she was confronted in January 2017 by the then-KPTA president.

According to an online court filings, Nygaard did not show up for the initial scheduling conference on August 30, which resulted in the court ordering a default against her.

There was an ex parte (one party only) proof hearing on November 1st, and Nygaard did not appear.

At a status hearing on the same day, Judge Yvonne Williams accepted the KPTA’s investigation that found Nygaard stole $78,956.06 through 364 separate transactions and that because she provided false financial reports to the KPTA, the organization lost $30,000 in revenue.

On November 5, Judge Williams ordered a total of $108,956.06 in compensatory damages and then slapped another $108,956.06 in punitive damages for the “egregious conduct of the defendant” during her “multi-year fraud.” The judge also awarded over $5,000 in attorney fees, but allowed the KPTA to provide additional documentation to show additional attorney fees. So the total awarded comes up to at least $223,000.

On November 8, the KPTA asked for an additional $25,000 for attorney fees, but said the actual costs were higher than $40,000 and that Nygaard made it more costly and complicated because she did not respond “multiple attempts” by their attorneys to meet. The KPTA also requested post-judgment interest until the amount is repaid.

It is not clear when the judge will make a decision on attorney fees.

The Daily Moth reached out to the KPTA President Chad Taylor on what steps the KPTA will do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. He said that they completed a review and adopted new procedures to prevent and detect any attempt to misappropriate funds.

The KPTA is not able to provide comments on the case because litigation is still pending.

I reached out to a Facebook account with Jenny Nygaard’s name on it, but did not get an immediate response.

https://www.dailymoth.com/blog/kendall-pta-alleges-former-treasurer-stole-over-80000

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