After all the years I have been doing this work and following these questions, it is still maddening to me that the representatives of the Catholic Church continue to mislead the public about the realities of child abuse, litigation, and child safety. This morning I read the statement from a representative of the Archbishop of New Jersey, that "this bill [proposed loosening of the statute of limitations in New Jersey] is backward-looking, not forward-looking. This bill will not protect a single child."

Does this man, I wonder, really believe this? Is it possible to believe this? Consider: the Catholic Church, to take just one example of an "institution of trust" with responsibilities for children, is manifestly a safer place than it was, say, 30 years ago. Certainly stilll has a long way to go, but I think it is clear that the Church is a safer place for kids than it was a few decades ago. If that is true, then comes the follow up question: why is that so? Is it because the bishops heard the still small voice of the Spirit urging them to do the right and difficult thing? We wish. But the truth is that it is a safer place, not because the bishops got the Holy Spirit, but because the bishops got sued, over and over again… sued ten thousand times by courageous men and women all over the country who finally stood up for themselves and for future generations of children. THAT’s why kids are safer now. Because of lawsuits; and lawsuits were (and are) only possible in states where the statute of limitations reasonably recognizes that the majority of abuse survivors do not realize their injury until later in life. The psychological literature is loaded with the explanation for this, but it is the reality. And a fair statute of limitations must recognize this reality. Thus the New Jersey debate. But to hear a representative of the Catholic Church say that a statute of limitations bill will not protect a child is simply disappointing, and the statement disingenuous.

I came late to the realization that lawsuits will really help protect children. For a long time, I simply thought of litigation as the messy and uncomfortable search for justice, one victim at a time. But after a decade or so, I started to see the results of all that litigation, and I realized that civil lawsuits really can and do make institutions of trust– not just the defendant institution, but others as well– safer for children. For a fine exposition of the reality that lawsuits (and related publicity) changed the Catholic Church, see the work by my friend Timothy Lytton, Professor of Law at Albany Law School in New York. It is called "Bishop Accountability– How Lawsuits Changed the Catholic Church." A highly informative read.

The most recent $30 million verdict against the Diocese of Wilmington is extraordinary in two aspects. First, the dollar amount the jury awarded in compensatory damages exceeds any other verdict awarded by a jury in a Catholic priest sexual abuse case. Second, the verdict found the parish in which the sexual abuser preyed upon the victim liable is unprecedented.

Until now, verdicts in these Catholic Church sexual abuse cases had always found the Diocese or the religious order liable. This is the first time a jury has found a specific parish liable for the actions of a priest. This is significant and may be a response to the Catholic Church’s decision to change their organizational structure in order to avoid civil liability in these cases. Formerly, the Catholic Church in the Unites States has been structured as a corporation sole, a holdover from old English law wherein the bishop is the sole entity responsible for all Catholic entities within the diocese. As Catholic priest abuse lawsuits mounted in this country, some dioceses decided to make each individual parish a separate corporation in order to protect the diocese from civil lawsuits. This happened in the Portland Archdiocese bankruptcy in 2004. As a result of the staggering liability that the Archdiocese faced, it decided to form each parish into a new corporation. But, as the Delaware case showed, that hardly solves the problem. If a jury finds that an abusive priest worked for both a diocese and a parish, it can do, as this jury did, the obvious thing and hold both of the organizations liable. Here, the Delaware jury found that an individual parish was responsible for the actions of its priest. This is a good sign in the fight for the survivors of child sexual abuse. The verdict holds all those entities, the diocese as well as the parish, accountable for the criminal actions of a priest who preys on children.

Here is David Clohessy, national director of SNAP– Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests– talking about this week’s $30 million jury verdict in Delaware in a case of Catholic Church sex abuse.

Clohessy does an outstanding job in this interview of articulating the motivations and aspirations of those committed to ending child sexual abuse, especially the survivors. It is a noble child civil rights movement, and its leaders, like David, are to be applauded.

November 11, 2010
By Dan Boniface

9News.com

DENVER – A controversial self-published book that offered advice to pedophiles has apparently been pulled from the website that was selling it.

Amazon.com no longer had a listing for "The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct" on Thursday.

A search of the site produced a link to Pueblo author Philip R. Greaves II’s book, but the link now leads to a dead end. The listing apparently has been deleted.

The online bookseller came under fire Wednesday when some of its customers threatened to boycott the site because of the book.

Amazon had issued the following statement Wednesday:

"Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions."

Greaves had defended the book on Wednesday.

"Every time you see them on television, they’re either murderers, rapists or kidnappers, and, you know, that’s just not an accurate presentation of that particular sexuality, it’s not."

Amazon.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

By Kelly Clark
November 11, 2010

Here is a hard-hitting but highly accurate recap of the problem of child sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts, triggered by our trial in Portland this past Spring.  The Boy Scouts of America has such great potential, and has been such a positive influence in the lives of so many kids; but that cannot and should not erase the story of tens of thousands of boys who were sexually abused in Scouting, while all the time the national organizations knowingly stood by and did nothing to change its program to protect its kids, and indeed even covered up the problem. 

Have they learned their lesson? And, of course, like too many institutions of trust where abuse happens, BSA did nothing to reach out to known child sexual abuse victims and offer them help.  Those who are most committed to Scouting should react most strongly to the utter failure of BSA to live up to its own ideals when it comes to the sexual abuse of children in the Boy Scouts.

Read Here.

By Kelly Clark
November 11, 2010

We encourage you to contact Amazon and express your outrage at this. This deserves a full boycott if they don’t heed the message.

Amazon defends ‘Pedophile’s Guide’
Another book protested in 2002 for advocating adult-child sex is still available on the site.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40112145/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

By Helen A.S. Popkin
November 10, 2010
www.MSNBC.com

NEW YORK — Amazon is selling a self-published book defending pedophiles, sparking discussions about the retailer’s obligation to vet items before they are sold in its online stores, and threats of boycott from Amazon customers if the book is not removed.

The book, " The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct" by Philip R. Greaves II, offers advice to pedophiles afraid of becoming the center of retaliation. It is an electronic book available for Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle e-reader.

The author’s description (misspellings included) reads:

"This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certian rules for these adults to follow. I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter sentences should they ever be caught."

Amazon issued a statement that will no doubt fuel the outraged comments multiplying on the "Pedophile’s Guide" Amazon page. "Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable," it reads. "Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions."

As a private company, Amazon has the right to sell whatever it wants as long as it’s legal, and as such, offers books that cater to Holocaust deniers and other hate groups, as well as graphic dog fighting and cock fighting videos. Adult (legal) pornography, while available in book and magazine form, is not permitted in the Kindle e-reader store. This is possibly because of its iTunes partnership with the notoriously porn-free Apple which removed both "Ulysses" and the "Kama Sutra" from its own book store.

Video: Why was Amazon selling pedophilia guide? (on this page)

A customer review on the "Pedophile’s Guide" Amazon page written by "Outraged Mother" reads, "The line of immorality is at best a zone with ill defined boundaries. Whatever. This crosses into the unsavory and shameful side of the zone. Take it down."

"There is a point when, even though a company has a no-censorship policy, that selling certain books is simply wrong," reads "Disgusting Abomination," another customer review. "Not censoring is one thing, and I commend that, but choosing to sell this book on a site that accessed by millions of people (including children) daily is reprehensible. This is a disgusting choice you have made, Amazon. Whatever money you are making off this book can’t be worth the ire you are receiving for selling it."

In an unexplained turn of events, more than 103 customer reviews populated the "Pedophile’s Guide" page earlier today, when news first broke about the book’s availability, but dropped down to less than 30 by late afternoon. The number of reviews has since grown to over 60.

As news and outrage about the book spread, the first (presumed) Internet jokester chimed in with "A fantastic guide," the first five star review:

"I can’t thank Amazon enough for keeping this great work of literature up for those of us with ‘special tastes.’ The instructions and images in the guide were extremely insightful and led to a wonderful experience for both myself and my partner. Thank you for protecting free speech, Amazon!"

In 2002, Amazon.com cited the First Amendment as justification for offering another book that advocates adult-child sex, "Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers," by David L. Riegel. Further, the paperback book is still available on the site.

At that time, Amazon stated, "Our goal is to support freedom of expression and to provide customers with the broadest selection possible so they can find, discover, and buy any title they might be seeking."

An Amazon employee emphasized that "Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers" was "not a ‘how-to’ manual for molesting children. The author simply expresses his point of view about what he feels are misunderstood."

"Pedophile’s Guide" has also triggered mounting outrage on Twitter and beyond. A chorus of Twitter users is calling for Amazon to pull the book, and a campaign to push the hashtag #BoycottAmazon into Twitter’s top trends is underway.

A keyword search for "Amazon" on the microblogging network reveals a growing number of retweets featuring Amazon’s contact info and urges to keep calling and e-mailing "until the book is removed."

Associated Press contributed to this report.

By Kelly Clark
November 2010

A number of lawyers and interested parties from around the country have asked me for copies of the pleadings and jury instructions from the Boy Scouts sex abuse trial in Portland this past Spring.  Here they are.

Fourth Amended Complaint

Jury Instructions Phase I

Jury Instructions Phase II

Plaintiff’s Requested Jury Instructions, Phase I and Phase II

Plaintiffs’ Revised and Supplemental Requested Jury Instructions Phase I

Plaintiff’s Requested Jury Instructions, Phase II

Read more about the trial here.

A landmark Oprah Show event that’s never been done before.
Two hundred men courageously stand together to say they were all molested.

TUNE in on NOVEMBER 5 and NOVEMBER 12, 2010 to watch the show!

Matthias Conaty participated in this Oprah special as one of the two hundred survivors of sexual abuse.  He serves on the board of directors of the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children and is the vice chair for the National Child Protection Training Center board of directors. 

As I sat in the audience of 200 courageous men at this groundbreaking taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, my thoughts and emotions were difficult to contain. I felt my long journey of suffering and surviving sexual abuse and finding ways to cope with the toxic shame and blame it left behind had reached a turning point.  Oprah pointed out what a tremendous amount of energy we had gathered with the noble purpose of shining a light of awareness on the pervasive, insidious human tragedy of sexual abuse of children.

A major theme in the show was how men who were sexually abused as children tend to stay silent. While this is also true of girls and women, statics tell us males are even more likely not to come forward. My transformation from victim of childhood sexual abuse to survivor began when I finally found my voice and was able to speak up. Thankfully I was believed. Family, friends and advocates supported me. I was able to help my home state, Delaware, pass landmark statute of limitations reform. This law, the Child Victim’s Act, allowed 10 victims of the man who abused me to be among the many victims who were able to speak up and move forward in their journeys of recovery. The community is now on notice that there are dangerous predators among us. Rooting out predators is critical because we must focus on preventing sexual abuse from happening to children right now and in the future.

For me, the indelible image from the Oprah show will remain the entire male survivor audience to holding up 8x10s of our childhood photos as the program began. That simple act alone was a powerful statement made by this landmark show.  As adult men, we were standing up for the boys we once were and representing the thousands of silent children and wounded adults who are among us.

I am honored to work with the dedicated child protection professionals and volunteers at the National Child Protection Training Center. In this effort, I am able to turn a tragic part of my childhood into positive action for others today and in the future. NCPTC has a unique vision and purpose. We have set the goal of ending child abuse in the United States within three generations. Sounds idealistic, doesn’t it? It certainly is. It’s idealistic and critically necessary. Our executive director, Victor Vieth, has created an inspiring peer-reviewed plan of action — Unto the Third Generation — that is concrete and unfolding throughout the nation right now.

Since its inception, NCPTC has trained more than 40,000 front-line child protection workers and forensic interviewers in all 50 states and 17 countries. Prevention education is also a major component of our mission. Along with the prevention specialists of the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, NCPTC educates families and communities to prevent the exploitation of children. Prevention is delivered to adults, children, teens and community coalitions or agencies. Please join us in this grassroots movement to ensure minors are never again treated as objects and that all children are afforded the personal safety and dignity they deserve.

Matthias Conaty of Wilmington, Del., helped to lead the Coalition to Pass the Child Victim’s Act, which successfully lobbied the Delaware Legislature to repeal the civil statute of limitations and enacted a two-year civil window for victims of childhood sexual abuse in Delaware. He also serves on the board of directors of the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children and as the vice chair for the National Child Protection Training Center board of directors.

NCPTC and NAPSAC are nonprofit organizations dedicated to ending child abuse through education, training, awareness, prevention, advocacy and the pursuit of justice.  NCPTC promotes reformation of current training practices by providing an educational curriculum to current and future front-line child protection professionals around the nation so that they will be prepared to recognize and report the abuse of a child.  You can make donations to NCPTC—a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, or NAPSAC—a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization.  All donations received will help fund services and programs of the organizations.  Make a donation to NCPTC or NAPSAC today.

  Click here to learn more about Oprah’s two-day show event.

By Kelly Clark
October 18, 2010

Stay tuned for more commentary to follow.

Child abuse and crime victims groups file amicus brief urging the Oregon Supreme Court to help break the cycle of secrecy in child sexual abuse cases.

Read the brief here!

By Kelly Clark
October 11, 2010

The news that over 1000 teachers in Kenya have been dismissed in recent years for sexually abusing girls is stunning.  Read The Article Here.

No matter how long I do this work, I never get used to such things—and especially not to such numbers.  If you assume that, on average, each teacher involved had 10 victims—a conservative number, according to psychological literature—there are at least 10,000 girls affected.  But wait: we know that only a handful ever get caught or reported: 10% would be a very high number.  But even if it is that, there would be as many as 100,000 girls abused.  Again, the problem seems to be of staggering proportions.

This dynamic is similar to what we learned in the sex abuse trial of the Boy Scouts in Portland this past spring.  We had over 1200 “Perversion files” introduced into evidence, all concerning Boy Scout leaders sexually abusing boys, just from 1965-85.  Expert testimony established that, for such an environment, each such Boy Scout leader would have, on average, 10-20 victims, and that, perhaps 10% of all sex abuse in the Boy Scouts  would ever be reported—a very optimistic number, the experts agreed.  But if you do that math, it means that somewhere between120,000 and 240,000 boys were sexually abused in Boy Scouting, JUST from 1965-85.  And we know that the Boy Scouts have been keeping their “confidential Perversion files” on child sexual abusers since 1925.    As I have said repeatedly since the trial, I am personally convinced that the problem of child sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts is at least as serious, if not worse, than the sexual abuse problem in the Catholic Church.

SANTA BARBARA
By Attorney Brian Brosnahan
The Santa Barbara News Network
Monday, October 4, 2010

Less than 24 hours after the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruling in Los Angeles calling for the release of personnel documents in the Franciscan friars sex abuse case, THESBNN.COM has learned the case may be headed to the California Supreme Court.

PRESS RELEASE – ‘WHAT THE POPE KNEW’
A CNN Special Investigation CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman,reports for What the Pope Knew , investigating some of the most notorious pedophile priest cases in the United States and finds that the pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, had direct responsibility for how they were handled. CNN’s investigation reveals that Ratzinger opposed or slowed down the defrocking of some priests, including convicted child molesters.

What the Pope Knew
Saturday, Sept. 25 at 8:00pm ET and PT
CNN and CNN International.

Brian Rokus and Scott Bronstein, from CNN’s Special Investigations and Documentaries unit, are the producers and writers for What the Pope Knew. Kathy Slobogin is managing editor, Scott Matthews is the executive producer.

Details:
During his first papal visit to the U.S., Pope Benedict XVI reached out to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, unprecedented for the Vatican. He became the first pope to directly and personally apologize to victims for their trauma. He was the first to acknowledge publicly that the Church had systemically erred in the way that it had transferred offending priests to new parishes, putting more children at risk, instead of reporting offenders to law enforcement. A new era of accountability seemed to have dawned. But Benedict’s role in managing the child sex abuse scandal while he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and as a powerful cardinal at the Vatican, has now come under scrutiny.

Conflicting portraits of the former Joseph Ratzinger have emerged. While defenders of this pope insist he has done more than any other church authority to change the Vatican’s policies and, apologize for the abuses. Others point out that he has been in positions of power for nearly 30 years and could have done more. “Joseph Ratzinger was not and is not the villain of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in no way shape or form. Yet, he’s not the hero either. He was part of the culture,” says David Gibson, the pope’s biographer, in the documentary.

The documentary features insights from Vatican insiders and internal church documents about abusive priests. It also features a rare interview with the “Vatican’s prosecutor,” Charles Scicluna, as well as an exclusive interview with the first victim to personally sue Pope Benedict. CNN’s investigation is a complex portrait of the pope; while he seemed to move with rapidity to discipline priests whose values he felt strayed too far from Catholic orthodoxy, his delays and deliberations on even the most egregious of the child abuse cases baffles and infuriates those waiting for justice.

Various stories and sections of the documentary will also be available on CNN.com. CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively-syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

By Kelly Clark
September 2010

Read here: Oregon sex-literature laws ruled unconstitutional

This is what I meant when I said, in a 2008 debate with the ACLU’c Charlie Hinkle at the City Club that we in Oregon have "too much free speech." When we cannot pass common-sense laws aimed at protecting children because of wholly abstract "free speech" limits, then we have "too much free speech," and judges run a risk of so alienating the public, so separating the "constitutional sense" from the "common sense" of the people, that both the courts and the constitution will lose legitimacy with the average citizen.

My full comments can be found at here.

For Immediate Release
September 20, 2010

For More Information:
Michael Beaty (360) 695-7909
Kelly Clark (503) 306-0224

Vancouver, Wash—Two adults today filed suit in Clark County Superior Court against the La Center School District for childhood sexual abuse they suffered as second-graders at the hands of their teacher, Robert David Ryan, in the early 1980’s.  The suit contends that the District was negligent in its supervision of Ryan at Mary Gabrielson Elementary School and because of the school district’s negligence, the plaintiffs suffered severe and permanent mental, emotional and psychological damage. The teacher would routinely fondle students under the pretext of having them sit on his lap, or sit next to him, while he ostensibly gave instruction, according to the lawyers for the victims, Vancouver attorney Michael Beaty and Portland attorney Kelly Clark. 

The second grade teacher had worked for the school district for about 10 years prior to his arrest. He was charged with the sexual abuse of 14 of his students between the ages of seven and nine years old. The teacher plead guilty to two counts of “Indecent Liberties” on June 2, 1983 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and an additional 10 years of probation. According to court records, the teacher later admitted to abusing about 25 students and that he had not “expressed in any guilt or remorse for his actions.” The teacher’s last known address was in Missouri.

The plaintiffs, now in their 30’s, are both Washington residents, though one is currently working out of state. “We see the way in which a child abuser can use his authority and position to manipulate and abuse children, especially when those who are supposed to be supervising him are not doing their job,” said Beaty, a Vancouver trial attorney who has previously represented hundreds of personal injury victims.

“This teacher was audacious—covertly abusing kids in the presence of other kids, and in plain view of other teachers and staff,” said Clark, who frequently represents victims of child sexual abuse.  “This administration clearly was not paying attention to the rumors and warning signs.”

According to the attorneys, both adults have had significant consequences from their childhood abuse:  trauma, early onset alcohol and drug abuse, chronic anxiety, long-term depression and repeated failures in relationships.  “They are just starting to deal with the impact that the abuse is having on their lives,” said Beaty.  “They know they are in for a long road.”

 “What these two have suffered are the signature symptoms of the crime of abuse,” said Clark, who regularly represents child abuse victims in cases against churches, schools, and other youth organizations, including the Boy Scouts—against whom he won a $20M verdict in May of this year in a Portland trial.  “When this kind of thing happens to a 7 year- old, it is like vandalism to the soul, and it takes decades to recognize and repair the wreckage.

Under Washington law, a lawsuit does not state the amount of money sought, and the suit says only that the plaintiffs “seek damages in an amount to be proven at trial.”  According to Beaty, the case should come to trial in about a year.

###

Read the Official Complaint Here.

The Standard Examiner

NPR
By The Associated Press

Six men who were sexually abused three decades ago by a leader of their Boy Scouts troop have settled lawsuits against the national organization dedicated to building character among youngsters.

The settlement followed a trial in which the Scouts were accused of failing to act for decades on a growing trove of documents alleging sexual abuse — known in the organization as "the perversion files."

In April, an Oregon jury awarded the first of the six victims to go to trial nearly $20 million from the century-old, congressionally chartered organization.

"I’m glad it’s over with. I’m glad the jury heard us and believed us," said Kerry Lewis, an unemployed former factory worker who now lives in Medford, Ore. "Other children in the future will have more protection than I did."

Lewis agreed during the trial to be identified in news stories. He participated by telephone with his lawyers at a news conference Wednesday.

The second trial was scheduled in October. Lawyers for the men said the settlement agreement was reached last week.

Only one of the financial details was made public, and that because it would be a matter of public record: The state of Oregon will be paid $2.25 million in punitive damages.

By law, the state gets 60 percent of punitive damage awards in Oregon. But plaintiffs’ lawyer Kelly Clark cautioned against making calculations based on the state’s allocation.

"You can’t just do the math," he said. "It’s not even close."

The other five men were prepared to go to trial, Clark said. All six were determined not to settle individually, he said, and all settled because they are "in the process of getting on with their lives and getting healed."

He refused to say whether they would have equal settlements.

The jury found the Texas-based Boy Scouts of America negligent for allowing a former assistant scoutmaster, Timur Dykes, to associate with Scouts after he admitted to a Scouts official in 1983 that he had molested 17 boys.

"We extend our sympathies to the victims and are pleased to have reached a settlement which will both prevent these men from reliving their experiences during a trial and allow BSA to focus even more intently on the continued enhancement of our youth protection program," Boy Scouts of America spokesman Deron Smith said in an e-mail.

Journalists have sought the documents the jury saw, and the Oregon Supreme Court is considering whether to make them public.

The Boy Scouts have settled sex abuse lawsuits out of court before, although the exact number is not known because not all are announced.

But an expert on the subject, Patrick Boyle, has said the Scouts were sued at least 60 times in 1984-92 for alleged sex abuse, with settlements and judgments totaling more than $16 million.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said they represent more than a dozen victims in similar sex abuse cases, mainly in the West and Florida.

Given the evidence from two decades worth of Scouts documents, the number of instances of sexual abuse that go unreported and the number of victims that sexual predators typically have, the pending cases represent a sliver of what are likely tens of thousands of cases of abuse, said Paul Mones, another attorney for the six men.

"During the trial we heard from men in their 60s and 70s who were molested in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s," he said.

Paying punitive damages to the state constituted an acknowledgment of wrongdoing from the Scouts, he said. He said the jury verdict led the organization to require training in abuse issues for its volunteers and to hire a former police officer as a child protection advocate.

"Basically, hopefully, it’s a new day for the Boy Scouts now," Mones said.

Portland Tribune

Six men who were abused by a Boy Scout leader in the 1980s reached a financial settlement with the Boy Scouts of America.

The settlement includes a requirement that the Boy Scouts pay the state $2.25 million as 60 percent of the punitive damages in the case.

The amount of the settlement was kept confidential. It came five months after a Multnomah County jury awarded Kerry Lewis $19.9 million in damages for abuse he suffered at the hands of Assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes.

The trial in April featured for the first time the secret files – what the Boy Scouts calls its “Perversion Files” – with more than 20,000 pages of documents on child abuse, demonstrating that the organization was aware for decades of the size and scale of its child abuse problem.

Five other men also abused by Dykes in the same troop were scheduled to begin trials of their cases this fall.

“On behalf of all six of us, I can say that we are glad this is over,” Lewis said. “Three years of litigation has taken a huge toll on our lives and families, but we believe it was worth the struggle because the jury heard what happened and stood with us. We believed in the best ideals of Scouting – and still do – but we also want Scouting to act consistently with those ideals. Hopefully, they now will.”

Portland attorneys Kelly Clark and Paul Mones announced the settlement Wednesday morning in Portland.

By Aimee Green
The Oregonian
September 1, 2010

A settlement with six men molested by a former Portland Boy Scout leader is the latest in a series of new steps by the 100-year-old national youth organization to acknowledge its dark past and adopt safeguards to better protect boys from sexual abuse.

The settlement, announced Wednesday, prevents the men from talking about how much money each received to compensate them for abuse in the 1980s. But the amount likely reaches into the multiple millions of dollars, considering the Boy Scouts of America also will pay the state $2.25 million as part of the agreement.

Kelly Clark,  an attorney for the men, said he hoped the settlement makes the Boy Scouts safer for children, just as widespread sexual-abuse litigation against the Catholic Church made the church safer.

"That’s not primarily because the bishops got the Holy Spirit, that’s because the bishops got sued," Clark said.

Clark and attorney Paul Mones won a more than $19 million jury verdict against the Boy Scouts of America in April for failing to protect 38-year-old Kerry Lewis from Timur Dykes — an assistant Scoutmaster and convicted pedophile who had admitted to molesting 17 boys.

The verdict helped move along the settlement negotiations, the attorneys said. Lewis joined the others to avoid what was expected to be a lengthy appeal of the jury’s verdict in his case, believed to be the largest award in the country for a sexual abuse victim.

Lewis and the other five men were all members of the same troop and victims of Dykes. The men, now in their 30s and early 40s, claimed that Scouting executives knew they had a decades-long problem of pedophiles volunteering, yet failed to warn parents or children.

The Boy Scouts are now responding with better policies, the attorneys said.

Five weeks after the trial, the Texas-based organization made youth-protection training mandatory for all registered volunteers.

Three months after the trial, the organization’s first ever youth-protection director began work. Mike Johnson, a former child-sexual abuse investigator for the police department in Plano, Texas, is considered a "world-renowned expert," said Deron Smith,  a spokesman for the Boy Scouts.

"I’m glad the community and the jury heard us and believed us," said Lewis, who agreed to be identified in news stories during the trial and now lives in Klamath Falls. "And I’m glad other children are going to have more protection than I did. It makes it all worthwhile."

Lewis said the Scouts have never directly said they were sorry. But Smith, the Scouts spokesman, said a statement he e-mailed to media Wednesday contained an apology.

"We extend our sympathies to the victims and are pleased to have reached a settlement which will both prevent these men from reliving their experiences during a trial and allow BSA to focus even more intently on the continued enhancement of our youth protection program," the statement read.

It also stated that "youth safety is the number one priority of the Boy Scouts of America, and we are deeply saddened by the events in these cases."

Though no one will say how much the settlement is worth, the payment to the state indicates it’s high. Under Oregon law, the state gets 60 percent of all punitive-damage awards, and it had $11.1 million coming under April’s verdict. So lawyers for both sides allowed the state to negotiate a settlement.

Clark cautioned people not to speculate about the overall amount based on the state figure. "You can’t do the math, it’s not even close," Clark said.

Key to Lewis’ case were so-called red-flag files that the Boy Scouts have fought to keep out of the public eye, but that Multnomah County Circuit Judge John Wittmayer  allowed to be used during the trial. The files amounted to 20,000 pages of information collected by Boy Scout executives from 1965 to 1985 on 1,247 volunteers who were suspected of molesting boys or other inappropriate behavior.

  Lewis’ attorneys estimated that the files encompassed 6,000 to 18,000 children who had been abused over 20 years. That’s a fraction — maybe 10 to 20 percent — of the true number of victims because most sexual abuse isn’t reported, Mones said. Most victims, he said, don’t get the resolution his six clients got from the settlement.

"And that’s a tragedy," Mones said.

Clark said he has 14 other clients who are suing the Boy Scouts for sexual abuse in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and Florida.

– Aimee Green

By TIM FOUGHT
Associated Press
September 1, 2010

PORTLAND, Ore. — Six men who were sexually abused three decades ago by a leader of their Boy Scouts troop have settled lawsuits against the national organization dedicated to building character among youngsters.

The settlement followed a trial in which the Scouts were accused of failing to act for decades on a growing trove of documents alleging sexual abuse — known in the organization as "the perversion files."

In April, an Oregon jury awarded the first of the six victims to go to trial nearly $20 million from the century-old, congressionally chartered organization.

"I’m glad it’s over with. I’m glad the jury heard us and believed us," said Kerry Lewis, an unemployed former factory worker who now lives in Medford, Ore. "Other children in the future will have more protection than I did."

Lewis agreed during the trial to be identified in news stories. He participated by telephone with his lawyers at a news conference Wednesday.

The second trial was scheduled in October. Lawyers for the men said the settlement agreement was reached last week.

Only one of the financial details was made public, and that because it would be a matter of public record: The state of Oregon will be paid $2.25 million in punitive damages.

By law, the state gets 60 percent of punitive damage awards in Oregon. But plaintiffs’ lawyer Kelly Clark cautioned against making calculations based on the state’s allocation.

"You can’t just do the math," he said. "It’s not even close."

The other five men were prepared to go to trial, Clark said. All six were determined not to settle individually, he said, and all settled because they are "in the process of getting on with their lives and getting healed."

He refused to say whether they would have equal settlements.

The jury found the Texas-based Boy Scouts of America negligent for allowing a former assistant scoutmaster, Timur Dykes, to associate with Scouts after he admitted to a Scouts official in 1983 that he had molested 17 boys.

"We extend our sympathies to the victims and are pleased to have reached a settlement which will both prevent these men from reliving their experiences during a trial and allow BSA to focus even more intently on the continued enhancement of our youth protection program," Boy Scouts of America spokesman Deron Smith said in an e-mail.

Journalists have sought the documents the jury saw, and the Oregon Supreme Court is considering whether to make them public.

The Boy Scouts have settled sex abuse lawsuits out of court before, although the exact number is not known because not all are announced.

But an expert on the subject, Patrick Boyle, has said the Scouts were sued at least 60 times in 1984-92 for alleged sex abuse, with settlements and judgments totaling more than $16 million.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said they represent more than a dozen victims in similar sex abuse cases, mainly in the West and Florida.

Given the evidence from two decades worth of Scouts documents, the number of instances of sexual abuse that go unreported and the number of victims that sexual predators typically have, the pending cases represent a sliver of what are likely tens of thousands of cases of abuse, said Paul Mones, another attorney for the six men.

"During the trial we heard from men in their 60s and 70s who were molested in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s," he said.

Paying punitive damages to the state constituted an acknowledgment of wrongdoing from the Scouts, he said. He said the jury verdict led the organization to require training in abuse issues for its volunteers and to hire a former police officer as a child protection advocate.

"Basically, hopefully, it’s a new day for the Boy Scouts now," Mones said.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By Amelia Templeton
OPB
September 1, 2010 

Six men who alleged they were sexually abused by an Oregon Boy Scouts leader in the 1980s have settled their lawsuit. The men sued  the Boy Scouts of America and its local branch, the Cascade Pacific Council.

At a press conference today, attorney Kelly Clark would not say how much money each plaintiff would receive from the Boy Scouts.

Kelly Clark: “What is not confidential about the settlement is that the state of Oregon will be paid $2.2 million in punitive damages directly by the Boy Scouts. And we believe this will be the first time ever that the Boy Scouts have paid punitive damages.”

One of the six plaintiffs, Kerry Lewis, went to trial this spring. A jury found the Scouts negligent for failing to warn Lewis’ family that his scoutmaster had abused other boys.

They awarded a record $20 million in damages. But the Scouts said they planned to appeal.

The settlement ends that litigation. The Boy Scouts said in a statement they are focusing on improving their youth protection program.

© 2010 OPB