Lawsuits Filed Against Provo Canyon School: Thank you Paris Hilton

Brynn Larsen

On June 15, 2026, Mortensen & Milne filed two lawsuits against Provo Canyon School on behalf of families whose children suffered preventable and devastating harm inside the facility. 

In both lawsuits filed Monday, the allegations are stark. One child, just 13 years old, suffered a fractured jaw and traumatic brain injury after another resident slammed his head into the ground— they did not seek emergent medical care although unconscious. In the other case, a teenage girl endured over a week of severe stomach pain before receiving proper medical care. By the time she was treated, her kidneys were failing. She now faces lifelong medical challenges that could have been avoided with timely intervention.

We are deeply grateful to Paris Hilton for standing with our clients as these cases were filed. Her willingness to speak about her own abuse at Provo Canyon School in the 1990s has given survivors across Utah—and across the country—the courage to come forward. Her support underscores what we already know: this is a pervasive, longstanding problem, and it will not change without pressure, litigation, and accountability.

Thank you to Meg Applegate and her non-profit Unsilenced, for her constant assistance in shedding light on the darkness of these facilities.

We know families place deep trust in these facilities, believing they are choosing a path toward safety, stability, and healing for their children. Parents enroll their children in these programs because they are told that trained professionals will provide the care, structure, and support their kids desperately need. But that is not what happens inside far too many of these institutions. Instead, massive corporations prioritize profit over people — over children. They cut staffing, hire unqualified workers, ignore medical needs, and at worst, allow or perpetuate abuse, trauma, and exploitation. Mortensen & Milne will not stop litigating these cases until the harm ends and Utah’s youth treatment industry is held fully accountable.

One child at a time, one story at a time, and one lawsuit at a time, Mortensen & Milne is committed to reforming the troubled teen industry and congregate care systems, working to make them safer, more accountable, and more reliable for the children and families they serve.