If you're from Florida as you say you would know what he did was absolutely illegal, and what you did was legal. Florida always has had age gap laws defined around consent so long as the guardian doesn't disagree with their relationship. (Called the Romeo and Juliet laws).
They specified a 16 or 17 year old could sleep with up to a 23 year old if all parties are agreed (guardian permission would usually be needed). 24 Rape.
Everyone I knew in school knew that, because if a 17 year old sneaks in to party with a fake ID people at 18 were already worried., and 21 were extremely cautious)
I'm being a lazy sack. I skimmed the article but didn't find an amount they won it for, has anyone seen how much they just paid the man who needs to pay his dues?