One fax that included more information than it should have led to a half-million dollar verdict.

The damages were awarded because of an errant release of private medical records.

It happened at Coastal Harbor Treatment Center in Savannah. It's an accredited behavioral health facility. (Other programs owned by the company treat adults with mental health or substance abuse issues). This one serves children and adolescents, ages 4 to 17, with short-term and long-term inpatient care, to cope with crisis situations or ongoing behavioral, mental or emotional difficulties.

A boy identified in court records only as K.S. was a patient there from December 2013 until November 2014. He was 13 when he arrived. Before that, he had “suffered abuses that had a tremendous effect on his life,” the complaint said. No details of the abuse were disclosed.

Eventually, the boy opened up with counselors and shared what had happened to him and how it had affected him, trusting that he was speaking in confidence, the complaint said. In addition to undergoing therapy, he continued his school work there. After nearly a year, he was discharged and went home to West Virginia.

He planned to enroll in his public school, which requested his records from Coastal Harbor. Instead of sending only his school records, an employee in the office also sent at least some of his private health care records, including therapy notes, according to the complaint. His public school decided not to admit him, although he was offered instruction in a separate setting, according to court records.

His mother filed a lawsuit against Coastal Harbor, alleging that, as a result of the errant disclosure, her son had suffered physical, mental and emotional damages. After the boy turned 18, her name was dropped from the lawsuit, and his initials were added as plaintiff.

“He's embarrassed by it. He doesn't know who's seen it,” said the family's attorney, Roy “Rob” Robinson Kelly IV of Kelly & Kelly in Savannah. “Now, he finds it difficult to trust therapists.”

Robinson tried the case with Caitlin “Cat” Derst of Kelly & Kelly. They walked a fine line in the two-day trial before Chatham County State Court Judge Hermann W. Coolidge Jr. The young man appeared only briefly during voir dire. An expert testified about the effect of the disclosure.

“It was a delicate balance between saying what we needed to say and keeping things private as much as we possibly could,” Robinson said.

The defense never disputed that the private records were sent by mistake. The attorneys just disagreed over whether the boy was harmed and whether that was the reason the school didn't admit him.

The jury deliberated a little less than an hour before finding for K.S. and awarding him $500,000, plus court costs.

Coolidge signed the judgment on July 15.

Michael Hostetter of Nall & Miller in Atlanta represented Coastal Harbor's owner, Universal Health Services.

“Rob tried a good case,” Hostetter said. “Obviously, my client was disappointed with the verdict. At this point, we are exploring all options before deciding on next steps.”

The case is K.S. v. UHS of Savannah, No. STCV-1501430.