LOS ANGELES — A jury in Portland, Oregon on Friday ordered the Boy Scouts of America to pay 18.5 million dollars in punitive damages to a man who was abused by a Scout leader in the 1980s, local media reported.
The verdict was part of the punitive damages segment of the trial, as the jury in the northwestern US city earlier awarded victim — which The Oregonian newspaper identified as Kerry Lewis, now 38 — one million dollars for the pain and suffering.
Lewis said during the trial that he was abused five times when he was between 11 and 12 years old by his then-scoutmaster in Portland, and that the experience led him to drug addiction and difficulty in establishing intimate relationships.
The alleged abuser, Timur Dykes, now 53, admitted after the incidents that he was a serial molester. He has been convicted three times for sex abuse against boys.
The trial is unique in that it has forced the Boy Scouts, which celebrates its centennial this year, to submit to the court for the first time in 20 years documents detailing sexual abuse recorded by the organization.
Although the group has been sued dozens of times over sex abuse, most cases settled out of court, which ensured the records were kept confidential.
Lewis’s lawyer, Kelly Clark, wrote on his website, www.boyscoutabuse.com, that victims may feel "an added sense of guilt about bringing legal action against an organization that many view in a positive light, one that no doubt has helped many boys, and, indeed, an organization that stresses ‘loyalty’ as one of its core values."
By Oregon law, 60 percent of the verdict goes to the state’s crime victim’s compensation fund, The Oregonian reported.
America’s Scouting movement is fighting to keep secret thousands of "perversion files" on suspected child molesters after it was ordered to pay record damages over the sexual abuse of a former Scout.
In a growing scandal threatening to rival the crisis hitting the Roman Catholic church, the Boy Scouts of America has been accused of covering up decades of child abuse in order to protect the reputation of what is now a billion-dollar organisation.
Last week, a jury in Oregon made the largest punitive damages award to a single plaintiff in a child abuse case in the US by ordering the Scouts to pay $18.5m (£12m) to Kerry Lewis, who was repeatedly assaulted by a former assistant scoutmaster, Timur Dykes, in the 1980s. Dykes had admitted to a superior in the Scouts that he had abused boys, but was allowed to remain in the organisation and is alleged to have sexually assaulted several other children who are also taking legal action.
The judge in the case overruled the Scouts’ attempts to keep the jury from seeing about 1,200 files kept by the organisation on suspected paedophiles. Kelly Clark, Lewis’s lawyer, told the jury that while the files were often used to remove child abusers from the Scouting movement, many were allowed to remain in the organisation. He said that the Scouts rarely alerted the police and when they did, the movement asked the authorities to avoid publicity.
Clark told the jury that the Scouting leadership had been "reckless and outrageous" in failing to warn parents and boys about the problem.
The files shown to the jury were not made public and are just a small part of what is believed to be a cache of as many as 6,000 held at the Scouts’ headquarters in Texas, dating back to the 1920s. Lawyers for alleged sexual abuse victims are suing to have all the files made public at a hearing next month.
If that happens, it is likely to prove a severe blow to an organisation that is already at the centre of controversy over a bar on atheists and gay people. Membership stands at about 3 million, but has been dropping for more than a decade, in part because of the controversies over discrimination.
Clark said the scale of the award to Lewis reflects a heightened awareness of sexual crimes against children because of the recent revelations about the Catholic church. But he also said that the jury was shocked by the existence of what in court were called the "perversion files".
"We said they had 75 years of secret files about paedophiles, and that’s the way the evidence came in. I think that fact in itself was just staggering to the jury," he said. "They had a regular practice of placing guys on probation and then they would allow them to continue to be active in Scouting, not unlike some of what you saw in the Catholic church."
Dykes confessed his abuse in 1983 to the local Scouts co-ordinator, who also happened to be a Mormon bishop, but was allowed to continue working with the Scouts. Lewis said he was molested by Dykes over the following two years. The Mormon church settled with Lewis and seven other victims of Dykes more than a year ago.
Clark said the Scouts shared information from the files when requested to do so by the police, but it almost never took the initiative in submitting a case to the authorities, even where there was credible evidence of abuse.
"The routine was that they would deal with it internally," said Clark. "They would place the paedophile on their list of ineligible volunteers and if it was dropable they would drop it, and it was done. There were numerous examples of Scouting executives saying ‘let’s keep this quiet, he’s out of Scouting now, so we don’t need to do any more about it.’ There was definitely a misguided sense of priorities."
Even where the police did become involved, the Scouts sought to minimise the damage to the organisation.
"We saw numerous examples of the Scouts writing to law enforcement saying ‘it would be best for the good of Scouting if this could avoid being made too public.’ Law enforcement was almost complicit in this saying ‘we’ll do our best to keep this quiet because we value the work of the Boy Scouts,’" said Clark.
The Scout leadership said it was seeking to keep the files secret to protect the privacy of the victims and to guard against being sued for false accusations. It said it was "deeply saddened" by the abuse of Lewis, but would not comment further on the case because of continuing litigation.
"The Boy Scouts of America has a rigorous, nationwide system of checks and balances, in accordance with local laws, which keeps out of the programme those individuals who should not be leading youth," it said.
But Patrick Boyle, author of Scout’s Honour: Sexual Abuse in America’s Most Trusted Institution, said the Scout leadership lost sight of its real purpose in dealing with paedophiles.
"They’ve behaved like a corporation with an embarrassing product defect that they don’t want to acknowledge. The Scouts were minimising the extent of the problem within their organisation and in large part discrediting their own Boy Scout victims and trying to hide the product defect, so to speak, by not letting on how many cases they have, misleading people into thinking they didn’t really know how many cases they have, they didn’t have a file system. And then fighting tooth and nail in court to keep it secret," he said. "They have also been very heavy handed with the victims, not apologising."
Scouts’ dishonour
The Boy Scouts of America organisation has been at the centre of nearly three decades of controversy ranging from out-of-court settlements with victims of childhood sexual abuse to its bar on non-believers and gay people.
Although Kerry Lewis won the largest punitive damages to date ($18.5m) awarded over sexual molestation, the Scouts in the US have settled about 60 similar cases out of court over recent years.
Until last week’s judgment, the Texas-based Scout movement had previously fought off several court actions, including an attempt to overturn its policy that atheists and agnostics who were not prepared to swear allegiance to God could not join. It also beat off legal attempts to force it to drop an effective bar on openly gay members on the grounds that being homosexual is not consistent with the organisation’s requirement to be "morally straight". The Girl Scouts of America, a separate organisation, permits members to submit a word other than God when reciting its oath and has no restrictions based on sexual orientation.
Some critics have accused the Boy Scouts of losing touch with its original purpose as it has evolved into a an organisation which in some ways resembles a large corporation, with close to $900m in assets, including a $45m art collection and a large property portfolio.
A Multnomah County jury said the Boy Scouts of America must pay $18.5 million for the sexual abuse a former Scout suffered as a child — the largest such award levied against the organization.
Attorneys for the former Scout, 38-year-old Kerry Lewis, said the vast majority of sexual-abuse lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America since the 1980s have settled quietly, and the issue largely has stayed out of the national spotlight. They said Friday’s verdict, however, exposed the organization’s dark history with pedophiles and its unwillingness to come to terms with the problem.
"What we saw here in Portland has really pulled back the covers on the Boy Scouts of America," said Paul Mones, one of Lewis’ attorneys, speaking to a crowd of local and national reporters. Mones said that although he considers the organization generally safe, it needs "to be open and honest" about pedophiles who are drawn to its volunteer ranks.
Attorneys for the Boy Scouts swiftly left the courthouse, saying they were not able to comment pending appeal. They also added that six other boys abused by the same Scout leader as Lewis have cases pending against the organization. However, the Boy Scouts posted a general statement on its website, which said in part: More
"The Boy Scouts of America has always stood against child abuse of any kind and is always looking for ways to improve its Youth Protection strategies."
Minutes after the verdict, a tearful Lewis hugged his mother. Flanked by attorneys Mones and Kelly Clark, Lewis described the decision to sue — and testify in open court — as "very scary." When he was 11 or 12 years old, Lewis was repeatedly molested by Timur Dykes, a Southeast Portland assistant Scoutmaster.
Lewis and his attorneys said they hoped the verdict would make Scouting safer.
"If I was able to help save one person, this was all worth it," Lewis said.
Oregon law requires that 60 percent — or $11.1 million of the $18.5 million punitive-damages verdict — goes to the state’s crime victim’s compensation fund.
Jamie Francis/The OregonianKerry Lewis embraces his mother, Helen Caldwell, Friday after a news conference in Portland. Just minutes earlier, a jury awarded $18.5 million in punitive damages in Lewis’ suit against the Boy Scouts.
The Lewis case could spur a flood of litigation by former Scouts who were allegedly abused in recent decades and whose abuse was documented by the Texas-based organization in thousands of so-called "perversion" files. Multnomah County Judge John Wittmayer ordered the Scouts to turn over more than 1,000 of the files, created from 1965 to 1985.
The Boy Scouts said they created the files to track suspected pedophiles and prevent them from ever volunteering again. But Lewis’ attorneys argued that the organization knew of its decadeslong problem of pedophiles but failed to warn parents and boys.
Expert on abuse
The only other case in which a jury got to view some of the files ended with a $45,000 verdict in the 1980s against a local council of the Boy Scouts in Virginia, said Patrick Boyle, author of "Scout’s Honor" and a leading national expert in sexual abuse in Scouting.Next month, Wittmayer will hear arguments from media organizations — including The Associated Press and The Oregonian — about whether he should make public the files used as evidence in the trial. The Boy Scouts are fighting to prevent that disclosure. Lewis’ attorneys also said they expect local and national organizations that advocate for victims of child abuse to join the fight to release the files.
Boyle said he’s waiting to see if Friday’s verdict prompts the nearly $1 billion organization to act.
"Will the BSA finally admit that it has a sex-abuse problem?" said Boyle, who is also editor of Youth Today, a publication base in Washington, D.C. "Are they going to apologize like the Catholic Church has done? Are they going to study their files like the Catholic Church has done?
" … The Boy Scouts for the first time are facing a financial threat," Boyle said. "They can’t afford to be paying out this kind of money to victims of abuse."
9-3 decision
Jurors deliberated for a full day before issuing their 9-3 decision, ending a six-week trial. Last week, during the first-phase of the trial, the same jury said the Boy Scouts of America and its Portland-based body, the Cascade Pacific Council, must pay the former Scout more than $1 million for pain and suffering he’s endured, including drug abuse and trouble forming relationships.
During the trial’s punitive phase, the jury was asked how much the Boy Scouts of America should have to pay to deter future lapses and to punish past "reprehensible" acts against Lewis. The Oregonian, which usually protects the identity of sexual-abuse victims, is identifying Lewis after he gave permission.
In closing arguments Thursday, Chuck Smith, an attorney for the Boy Scouts of America, discounted the importance of an apology.
"You’ve heard the argument we haven’t apologized to the plaintiff, we haven’t apologized to the parents, we haven’t apologized to the country," Smith said. "Had there been an apology, what would these lawyers be telling you?: ‘Why did it take so long?’"
Then, Smith added: "Is the only way to prevent child sexual abuse … to apologize?"
Child-protection training
Smith argued that the organization has been a leader in preventing child abuse. The organization asked child-abuse experts to help design child-protection training for volunteers starting in the late 1980s. The organization has 2.8 million boys and 1.1 million adult leaders.
Videos also are shown to parents and boys warning about situations that could lead to sexual abuse by adults, including actors playing the role of a sport coach or an uncle. The organization also created rules to prevent children from ever being alone with one adult.
Since 2003, the organization has run criminal background checks on volunteers.
Lewis’ attorneys argued that the organization has turned a blind eye to publicly addressing a core problem: None of the materials given to boys and their parents warns them that Scout leaders could be a threat.
"Not one mention," Mones said.
Lewis’ attorneys called upon the testimony of a Texas woman, who said her son was molested by an assistant Scoutmaster from 2003 to 2006. The man bought her son and another boy gifts and took her son on camping trips, where he molested him. She said she’d gone over warnings about child abuse in the Scouting handbook with her son, but it didn’t specifically warn her that a trusted Scout leader could pose a threat.
After last week’s verdict, the Boy Scouts said they plan to appeal.
Portland, Ore—A jury today found the Boy Scouts of America liable for punitive damages for the sexual abuse of a then 12 year old boy in the 1980’s, returning a verdict of$18.5million in punitive damages—having last week returned a verdict of $ 1.4 in general compensatory damages. The trial lasted nearly 6 weeks.Under Oregon law, 60% of a punitive damages award goes to the State of Oregon crime victims’ fund—since the public policy purpose of punitive damages is to improve community safety.
“This is a tremendous win and a vindication of the truth about what happened to this boy,” said trial attorneys Kelly Clark and Paul Mones, co-counsel for the plaintiff, in a prepared statement.“The lessons of this case are that it is wrong for a youth organization to put the interests of the organization before the safety of the children,” they added.“Child abuse is always a devastating poison in the soul of any child, and this jury clearly recognized the profound impact that this abuse had on this young boy, and wanted to send a signal that a jury in Portland, Oregon will not tolerate any youth organization—even the venerated Boy Scouts of America—that keeps secrets about dangers to children.We are very proud of him for standing up for himself and for all abuse victims. If one child is saved from abuse because of this trial, it will be a win with lasting significance.”
The plaintiff, Kerry Lewis, now 38, had been known before the trial only as “Jack Doe 4”—there are a total of 6 men who are suing for abuse by the same perpetrator—but during the trial, he allowed his name to be used publicly.He was abused on 6 separate occasions when he was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout, at age 10-12. “I’m grateful for the chance to tell my story,” he said, “and it was bottled up inside me for too long.Now I get to go on and finish my healing. This trial was a great way to start the process of putting all this behind me, so I can focus on being a good man, a good friend, and a good father.”
Highlights of the trial included the presentation, for the first time before any jury, of over 1000 confidential files—totaling nearly 20,000 pages of documents—concerning adult Scout leaders from 1965-85 who had been accused of abusing Scouts.The trial court had ordered the documents produced in December, but the Scouts appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court, which on Feb 19 refused to hear the appeal or to block the order. The BSA finally produced the documents on March 2, and the trial commenced on March 15.
“When it came to child sexual abuse, the BSA motto was not ‘be prepared’ but rather was ‘be quiet,’” Clark and Mones commented.The plaintiff argued that the confidentiality of these sexual abuse files, and the refusal of the Scouts to warn parents of the known dangers of abuse in Scouting, amounted to a cover-up, driven by the BSA’s desire to keep up its membership.In that regard, the plaintiff produced a surprise witness during the last week of the main trial, Larry O’Connor, a lifelong Scouter from Alaska and a former professional Scout executive,who testified that, throughout the 1970’s the BSA deliberately inflated membership numbers all over the country through a mechanism called “ghost units”—Scout Troops that only existed on paper. The inflated numbers, Clark and Mones argued, was evidence of the motive for covering up the abuse problem—the desire not to lose members and financial support.In closing argument, Clark compared this to the cover-up in the Catholic Church of sex abuse by pedophile priests.
The plaintiff’s case also included evidence about what other youth organizations were doing in the 1980’s to protect children, especially the Big Brothers and Sisters, which had aggressive child abuse training and education programs in place by the 1980’s, while the Boy Scouts of America had not begun similar programs.The plaintiff had been abused in 83 and 84 by an Assistant Scoutmaster named Timur Dykes, despite that Dykes had admitted to Troop leaders in January 1983 that he had molested 17 Scouts.The plaintiff’s parents were never warned about his dangerousness, and that failure, according to plaintiff’s attorneys, led to further abuse, including of plaintiff.
The punitive damages phase of the trial highlighted the BSA’s surprisingly rich financial statements—with nearly $1 billion in assets, including $660 million in unrestricted funds, annual revenues of $400 million, and a $45 million art collection.The plaintiff’s lawyers during the punitive damages phase of the trial highlighted lavish spending within the top brass of BSA, including the salary of the Chief Scout Executive, who earns a total compensation of $1.2 million annually.
The next of the five remaining trials against the BSA and its Cascade Pacific Council in Portland is not yet scheduled, but Clark said that he expects it will happen in the Fall of this year.
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To arrange for interviews with attorneys Kelly Clark and/or Paul Mones, please contact
Rebecca Tweed, Media Relations Director at:
(503) 860-6033 or Rebecca@tweedandassociates.com
A Portland attorney who has filed multi-million dollar lawsuits over the years on behalf of hundreds of adults who claimed they were sexually abused as children said Sunday night he plans to file similar lawsuits Monday morning in three states.
The suits allege abuse by the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, said Kelly Clark, who has represented victims of Jesuit priest abuse. Clark alleges three boys were allegedly abused in San Francisco, one in Portland and another in Seattle, all while participating in the Boy Scouts. He said the Boy Scout program has been a part of the Mormon church’s official men’s program for decades.
"There is a close connection," Clark said. "The Mormon church sponsors 50 percent of the Boy Scout troops in the Western United States."
Oregon church leaders were unavailable for comment. The operator at the national headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, said no one would be available to discuss the suits until Monday.
Clark said he planned to file the first suit in San Francisco and then travel north Monday to Portland and then Seattle.
Clark said the alleged abuse took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He claimed the alleged abuse occurred over a period of years.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Mormon church and Boy Scouts of America were named as defendants in lawsuits Monday claiming childhood sexual abuse by youth leaders decades ago.
Alleged victims filed suits against both organizations in San Francisco and Seattle, and against the church alone in Portland, Ore.
The plaintiffs are all represented by Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who has brought similar suits against the church and the Boy Scouts in the past.
In the suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, three brothers claim the church ignored their complaints about being molested by their Silicon Valley Boy Scout and Mormon youth leader in the 1970s and 1980s.
“These are men who believe in the best of these institutions and believe that this kind of lawsuit can help improve these institutions and prevent child abuse,” Clark said. “This is not a lawsuit they brought lightly, but it is one they intend to see through.”
The plaintiffs, identified only as John Does, claim they were molested hundreds of times by 65-year-old William Eugene Knox, who married their mother while the abuse was taking place in Sunnyvale, Calif.
A law firm in Canton, Ga., contacted by The Associated Press said it was no longer representing Knox, a Georgia resident. His phone number could not be located.
Clark said the suit was filed weeks ago, but the defendants were only named Monday after a San Francisco judge certified evidence allowing them to be identified publicly. He said a jury would determine the specific amount of any possible damages.
One of the plaintiffs was still a devout member of the church, and two have served as scoutmasters. Clark said one was a former FBI agent.
San Jose attorney Allen Ruby, representing the church in Northern California, said he was not aware of a case in which courts have found a church liable for abuse committed by a family member.
“The allegations in this case are the plaintiffs were abused by their stepfather,” Ruby said. The church will defend itself against the suit, he said.
Kent Downing, chief executive of the Boy Scouts’ Pacific Skyline Council, said he could not comment because he had not seen the lawsuit.
In the Seattle case, a man now in his early 40s claims he and other boys were abused in the late 1970s by Dustin Hall, an assistant scoutmaster chosen by the church’s Shelton Ward near Olympia.
The plaintiff said in a statement released through his lawyer that the abuse — and his failure to protect the others — haunts him.
Hall could not immediately be reached for comment. It was not clear if he still lives in the area or whether he has an attorney. The Pacific Harbors Council of the Boy Scouts did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Chuck Gordon, a Seattle-based lawyer for the church, said it would investigate the complaint and act accordingly.
“While we do sympathize with all victims of abuse, the church will defend itself against any accusation it deems to be false,” Gordon said.
The lawsuit filed in Portland on behalf of a man who is now 46 claims a Mormon youth leader abused him between 1974 and 1977. The suit claims the abuse was reported to a church bishop but never communicated to law enforcement.
A lawyer for the church, Steve English, said the church “absolutely and unequivocally” condemns sex abuse and will investigate.
The lawsuit identified the youth leader as Michael Simms and seeks nearly $5 million in damages. Efforts to locate Simms were not successful.
Clark said the plaintiffs were filing civil lawsuits in part because the statute of limitations for bringing criminal charges had expired.
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Associated Press Writers Gene Johnson in Seattle, William McCall in Portland, Ore., and Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
Another religious leader is being accused of sexually molesting young boys — and this time — the Mormon Church is under fire.
On Monday, three brothers named the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America in the Bay Area city of Sunnyvale in a lawsuit, claiming they were sexually abused as children in the late 70s and 80s.
One of the brothers decided to file suit after their alleged abuser, William Eugene Knox, now 65, moved into his hometown.
Attorney Kelly Clark says "…that got him really stirred up and he started thinking and talking about his childhood abuse.. he started working with a counselor and one thing lead to another and he decided that he needed to get this secret out."
Clark says Knox, a leader in the Mormon Church and a Boy Scouts Master, worked his way into the boys’ lives knowing their mother was divorced "…Knox comes along and he’s a big wig in the local church… he played a profound role in these kids’ lives… at some point he began dating their mother… some significant time after the abuse began is when he married their mother."
The lawsuit claims the boys were molested from the time the younest boy was seven and the oldest was 12 and continued for at least seven years.
The suit also alleges that leaders of the Mormon Church were made aware of the alleged abuse back in 1983, but it was never reported to law enforcement authorities.
While the statute of limitations has passed to criminally charge Knox for the alleged abuse, Clark says the brothers came forward to help prevent child abuse, to help themselves heal and to have the Mormon Church "acknowledge and accept resposibility for what happened to them."
PORTLAND, Ore. – The attorney at the center of a number of high-profile cases against the Mormon church plans to file another round of lawsuits Monday.
A case against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – also known as the Mormon church – will be filed in Portland’s Multnomah County Circuit Court Nov. 16, according to Rebecca Tweed, who handles media relations for the Portland law firm O’Donnell Clark & Crew. The attorney representing this civil case is Kelly Clark with O’Donnell Clark & Crew.
The suit is being filed on behalf of an Oregon man. The man alleges sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a Mormon church youth leader.
This is one of a handful of related abuse lawsuits Tweed tells KATU that Clark will file in San Francisco, Seattle and other West Coast towns Monday against the Mormon Church. Four of the suits also name the Boy Scouts as defendants.
In 2007, Clark represented six Portland men who filed a lawsuit against the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America seeking $25 million in damages for alleged sexual abuse in the 1980s. Clark reportedly obtained several trial court rulings and a state Supreme Court win in that suit.
Three former Sunnyvale residents announced today they have sued the Mormon church, the Boy Scouts of America and their stepfather in San Francisco Superior Court for alleged childhood sexual abuse.
The three men, who are brothers now aged 39, 41 and 43, claim that William E. Knox, 65, a Mormon church and Boy Scouts leader, molested them repeatedly in Sunnyvale between 1977 and 1987.
A brother identified as John Doe 2, who now lives in Georgia, said, "I’m a victim and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. It was devastating to me. I’ve been abused hundreds of times over several years."
The brother alleged, "During the abuse, I told the church leadership responsible to protect me and they did nothing to protect me."
Knox married the brothers’ mother in 1979 and remains married to her, but the brothers are now estranged from Knox and their mother, according to Kelly Clark, a lawyer for the men.
The lawsuit alleges that before the marriage, Knox used his position as a church elder and youth leader to begin abusing them when they were members of a church-chartered Boy Scouts troop for which he was assistant leader. The molestation began during individual sleepovers at Knox’s Sunnyvale apartment, according to the lawsuit.
After the marriage, the sexual assaults allegedly continued at the family’s Sunnyvale home, in Knox’s car on trips to church and Boy Scouts activities, and during Scouts camping trips, according to the lawsuit.
The alleged abuse included fondling, child masturbation and oral copulation, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed about two weeks ago, but under state law the identity of the defendants could not be revealed publicly until a Superior Court judge ruled last week that the plaintiffs had provided enough corroborating evidence to allow disclosure of the defendants.
Two of the brothers now live in Georgia and the third in Colorado. They announced the lawsuit at a news conference at the Civic Center Plaza near the Superior Court courthouse.
They said they filed their lawsuit now because they became aware of the psychological effects of the abuse after they learned last December that Knox and their mother had moved to the same Georgia town where two of them live.
They said that caused them to begin for the first time to connect the psychological and emotional problems they suffered as adults to the alleged childhood abuse.
John Doe 1 said, "When I saw him in a car as he drove by, I literally began shaking."
Allen Ruby, a San Jose lawyer representing the church, said, "Any allegation of childhood abuse is a serious matter," but said, "The church will defend itself."
Ruby said, "The law does not make a church responsible for the conduct of a stepfather toward his children."
Deron Smith, a spokesman for Boy Scouts of America, said, "We’ve not seen the lawsuit and there is not a whole lot we can say at this point."
The lawsuit contends that the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts are liable because Knox was acting as an agent of both. It says the boys told local church officials and the Boy Scouts of the alleged abuse in 1984 and informed a church counselor in 1985 but alleges that the molestation was never reported to law enforcement authorities.
The suit also alleges the church and Boy Scouts were aware that Knox had shown a propensity to abuse boys when he lived in San Diego before moving to Sunnyvale in the early 1970s.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of financial compensation. Clark said the men filed a civil lawsuit because the statute of limitations for a criminal prosecution has passed.
The brothers said they are seeking to hold the institutions accountable and to prevent molestation of other children.
John Doe 2 said, "I stand here today for children who will lay their head on their pillows tonight, shedding tears, knowing they will wake up to face their abusers again and again. If I can save just one child from childhood sexual abuse, I will have succeeded."
The lawsuit alleges that John Doe 1 was sexually abused from 1977 to 1982, John Doe 2 from 1977 to 1986 and John Doe 3 from 1977 to 1987.
It says that a high school friend who was a fellow Mormon and Scout member told John Doe 2 in 1983 that he had allegedly been abused by Knox.
The brothers said that Knox and their mother operated a now-defunct day care center at their home in Sunnyvale, known as Little Angel Day Care and Creative Play, for about 15 years, including during years when brothers were allegedly abused.
Clark said the lawsuit was filed in San Francisco because state law allows lawsuits to be filed in any county in which the defendants due business.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Mormon church and Boy Scouts of America were named as defendants in lawsuits Monday claiming childhood sexual abuse by youth leaders decades ago.
Alleged victims filed suits against both organizations in San Francisco and Seattle, and against the church alone in Portland, Ore.
The plaintiffs are all represented by Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who has brought similar suits against the church and the Boy Scouts in the past.
In the suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, three brothers claim the church ignored their complaints about being molested by their Silicon Valley Boy Scout and Mormon youth leader in the 1970s and 1980s.
"These are men who believe in the best of these institutions and believe that this kind of lawsuit can help improve these institutions and prevent child abuse," Clark said. "This is not a lawsuit they brought lightly, but it is one they intend to see through."
The plaintiffs, identified only as John Does, claim they were molested hundreds of times by 65-year-old William Eugene Knox, who married their mother while the abuse was taking place in Sunnyvale, Calif.
A law firm in Canton, Ga., contacted by The Associated Press said it was no longer representing Knox, a Georgia resident. His phone number could not be located.
Clark said the suit was filed weeks ago, but the defendants were only named Monday after a San Francisco judge certified evidence allowing them to be identified publicly. He said a jury would determine the specific amount of any possible damages.
One of the plaintiffs was still a devout member of the church, and two have served as scoutmasters. Clark said one was a former FBI agent.
San Jose attorney Allen Ruby, representing the church in Northern California, said he was not aware of a case in which courts have found a church liable for abuse committed by a family member.
"The allegations in this case are the plaintiffs were abused by their stepfather," Ruby said. The church will defend itself against the suit, he said.
Kent Downing, chief executive of the Boy Scouts’ Pacific Skyline Council, said he could not comment because he had not seen the lawsuit.
In the Seattle case, a man now in his early 40s claims he and other boys were abused in the late 1970s by Dustin Hall, an assistant scoutmaster chosen by the church’s Shelton Ward near Olympia.
The plaintiff said in a statement released through his lawyer that the abuse — and his failure to protect the others — haunts him.
Hall could not immediately be reached for comment. It was not clear if he still lives in the area or whether he has an attorney. The Pacific Harbors Council of the Boy Scouts did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Chuck Gordon, a Seattle-based lawyer for the church, said it would investigate the complaint and act accordingly.
"While we do sympathize with all victims of abuse, the church will defend itself against any accusation it deems to be false," Gordon said.
The lawsuit filed in Portland on behalf of a man who is now 46 claims a Mormon youth leader abused him between 1974 and 1977. The suit claims the abuse was reported to a church bishop but never communicated to law enforcement.
A lawyer for the church, Steve English, said the church "absolutely and unequivocally" condemns sex abuse and will investigate.
The lawsuit identified the youth leader as Michael Simms and seeks nearly $5 million in damages. Efforts to locate Simms were not successful.
Clark said the plaintiffs were filing civil lawsuits in part because the statute of limitations for bringing criminal charges had expired.
Associated Press Writers Gene Johnson in Seattle, William McCall in Portland, Ore., and Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A Mormon youth leader in Oregon has been accused of sexually abusing a boy in the mid-1970s in a lawsuit filed Monday in Portland.
The lawsuit filed by Portland attorney Kelly Clark on behalf of a man who is now 46 alleges the abuse occurred repeatedly between 1974 and 1977 in Woodburn.
The lawsuit claims the youth leader for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a music teacher at the time, and the abuse was later reported to a church bishop.
But the complaint alleges that no abuse was reported to law enforcement.
A lawyer for the church, Steve English, said the church "absolutely and unequivocally" condemns sex abuse and will investigate.
The lawsuit identified the youth leader as Michael Simms and seeks nearly $5 million in damages.
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SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — A suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court accuses the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America of covering up sexual abuse. The three men filing the suit are coming forward after three decades of silence.
The suit claims the three brothers were children when they told the Mormon church that they had been abused hundreds of times by church official, Eugene Bill Knox, who was also their Boy Scout leader. Kelly Clark is their attorney.
"Most child abuse survivors shove this away and it becomes a secret," he said.
Knox brought the family into the church and married their mother. They say they don’t blame her, but they definitely blame the church and the Boy scouts.
"The Mormon Church failed," one said. "They betrayed me."
The brothers, who grew up in the South Bay, have declined to give their names and are identified in the suit as John Does. This is one of three sex abuse suits filed against the Mormon Church this week. The others are in Portland and Seattle.
Church figure, Boy Scout leader accused
By Joe Rosato Jr NBCBayArea
There wasn’t much about the three men, other than their considerable height, that drew even the most casual glance in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza. They walked slowly across the plaza Monday, a vague similarity imbrued in each face.
But each brother carried an identical dark secret left over from childhood.
Today they stood before TV cameras and reporters, and unloaded a dark secret for anyone to hear. “I have come forward today to give the church that I love,” said one of the brothers, identified as John Doe 1, “the opportunity to realize that what they did to me what was wrong.”
The brothers, who are identified in court records only as John Does 1, 2, and 3, allege they were sexually molested by a Sunnvale Mormon and Boy Scout leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Their tale has another twist: The man they say destroyed their youth is also their stepfather.
Their lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Boy Scouts of knowing about the abuse, but failing to stop it. The men, now in their late 30s and early 40s, say they told church leaders at the time what was happening, but no one did anything.
“I love this church … but the Mormon Church failed,” said Doe 1. “They betrayed me. When I told my childhood leader of the abuse, they did nothing. “
The suit identifies William Knox, 65, as the alleged abuser. Attempts to reach him and his attorney were unsuccessful. An attorney for the church said any allegation of childhood abuse is a serious matter, but noted that the law doesn’t make a church responsible for the conduct of a stepfather toward his children
The brothers are now estranged from their mother, who is still married to Knox. They said when they were children they tried to tell her what was happening to them.
“My mother knew, I told her,” said Doe 3. “I believe she relied on the church to help her and they did nothing.”
The brothers say the pain over what happened to them as children welled up in recent years. It’s the reason they’ve come forward now. They hope the airing of their story might help other children caught in the same situation.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Three brothers filed a lawsuit in San Francisco containing allegations against both the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts. They claim they were victims of sexual abuse in the 70s and 80s that the church knew about and ignored.
Attorneys also filed similar lawsuits in Washington and Oregon on Monday, representing other plaintiffs against the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts.
The men in the San Francisco case moved away from the South Bay many years ago, but filed here because they claim the crimes happened in Northern California.
In the most public of places, outside San Francisco City Hall, three brothers held a press conference revealing the most private and intimate issue of their lives.
"Child sexual abuse is a crime committed in silence, covered up through secrecy and shame," said plaintiff John Doe No.1.
In the civil case filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday, they’re identified only as John Doe No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3.
All three are suing the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America for allowing Bill Knox to molest them while serving as their church bishop, scoutmaster and later as their stepfather when they lived in Sunnyvale in the 70s and 80s.
They say the Mormon Church is liable because they complained of the abuse and the church covered it up.
"We told our childhood church leaders. They did nothing. They hid it," said John Doe No. 1.
"We are alleging that the Mormon Church and the arm of the Mormon Church, the Boy Scouts of America, and several other individuals are negligent and they also have responsibility under what we call vicarious liability," said attorney Lisa Sapcoe.
The Boy Scouts of America said they could not respond to the charges because they had not seen the complaint.
An attorney for the Mormon Church described the allegations as "serious, but the law does not impose responsibility on the church for the kind of claims that are made on this."
All three men live out of state now, two of them in Georgia. They finally came forward and filed the suit when Mr. Knox moved near them.
"When I realized he was in my community and I saw him in a car when I drove by, I literally shook. I am a 44-year-old man. I literally shook at his presence," said John Doe No. 1.
"We decided together that we can no longer let other children suffer through what we have suffered through," said John Doe No. 2.
The men’s mother still lives with Mr. Knox. They said she was aware of the abuse and trusted the church to fix it.
Two of the men filing suit are dentists and the third is an FBI agent.
SEATTLE — A man has sued the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts, claiming he and many other boys were abused by a church-sponsored assistant scoutmaster in the late 1970s.
The lawsuit was filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle – one of a handful filed up and down the West Coast on Monday by Portland, Ore., attorney Kelly Clark. The man, who remains unidentified, claims that he was abused more than 30 times in 1978-79 by Dustin Hall, who was picked for the assistant scoutmaster job by the church’s Shelton Ward near Olympia.
The plaintiff, who was 13 at the time, says the abuse haunts him still – as does his failure to protect others, some of whom were even younger.
Chuck Gordon, a Seattle-based lawyer for the church, said Monday the church would investigate the complaint and "act accordingly."
It was not immediately clear how to contact Hall, whether he still lives in the area or whether he has an attorney.
A man who claims he was molested by a Boy Scouts’ camp ranger in the 1970s is suing the organization for $5.15 million.
The man, who is now in his late 40s, says he was in his early teens when the ranger of the former Camp Mallard in Oregon sexually abused him during visits on weekends and in the summer. The suit claims that Edward Elston sometimes gave his victim — identified only by the initials S.M. — money to keep quiet or threatened to hurt him if he told.
Elston was not charged with a crime. The plaintiff’s attorney, Kelly Clark, said he believes Elston is dead.
The suit was filed Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. It is one of 11 filed in Oregon against the Boy Scouts of America by Clark in the last few years, on behalf of clients who say they were molested as children. All the suits are still pending.
S.M.’s suit claims that the Boy Scouts organization knew at least by the 1960s that pedophiles were using their scouting positions to victimize children and that the problem was institution-wide. "Despite this knowledge, these defendants did not implement adequate child sex abuse policies" by the time S.M. joined the Scouts.
The man didn’t realize how deeply the abuse had affected him psychologically until 2008, after extensive therapy sessions, Clark said.
The Cascade Pacific Council, which is also named as a defendant in the suit, couldn’t be reached for immediate comment.
Over the past half-dozen years or so, a few parents of Boy Scouts in Burnsville learned things that bothered them about Peter Stibal II, the scoutmaster now jailed on charges that he molested three scouts.
They learned that he had been alone with individual scouts — at the movies, in his truck for private "driving lessons," at his cabin and in his home — all violations of scouting’s "two-deep" policy, which requires two adults to be present during scout activities.
John Nelson of Burnsville and other parents complained to local Troop 650 volunteer leaders. Nelson said those leaders admonished Stibal to stop violating the policy. But Kent York, an official for scouting’s regional umbrella organization, said the violations weren’t reported higher up the organizational chain, as they should have been.
"If any concerns had been shared with Northern Star Council, we have very specific procedures in place that we follow," York said. "No, none of the concerns had been shared with us."
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A 19-year-old woman has filed a $5.25 million lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Human Services claiming she was sexually abused as a child after the agency placed her with her foster grandfather.
Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who filed the complaint for the woman, said the foster grandfather had been twice convicted and sent to prison on child rape charges.
Clark alleges the state agency was negligent for placing the victim with the grandfather without adequately investigating. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court claims the abuse occurred repeatedly between the ages of 5 and 9.
The complaint names the Department of Human Services and two unidentified caseworkers as defendants.
KCBS’ Barbara Taylor reports
