Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against Oregon Adventists, Salem Church

Reference:
Multnomah County Circuit Court Case No: 0904-04942

For More Information:
Kelly Clark
O: (503) 306-0224
C:(503) 407-7381
Kellyc@oandc.com

 April 9, 2009

Portland, ORE—A new childhood sexual abuse lawsuit was filed today in Multnomah County Circuit Court against the Western Oregon Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists and the East Salem Seventh Day Adventist Church.  The suit alleges that a then-teenage boy, referred to in the lawsuit only as “S.H.,” acting under the direction and authority of the church, sexually abused two children, siblings, in connection with his role as a childcare provider.  The suit alleges that the church knew or should have known that the young man was dangerous to children, as a result of a prior incident several years earlier in Washington State.  The suit alleges both negligence against the East Salem Church and vicarious liability against the Conference.  The man was later, in 1995, multiply convicted of child abuse in his role as an employee at the Oregon School for the Blind.

This is at least the second lawsuit filed against the Adventist Church for the Conduct of S.H., according to Kelly Clark, an attorney with the Portland firm of O’Donnell Clark & Crew LLP who frequently handles childhood sexual abuse claims, and is the attorney for the Plaintiffs in this case.  Clark previously filed a case in August, 2007, against the East Salem Church and the Adventist Conference on behalf of a 23 year-old woman who was abused by this same perpetrator.  That case was settled in late 2008, just days before trial.

The plaintiffs in this case are two siblings, now 18 and 20 years of age, who were, at the time of this abuse, very young.  According to Clark, the little boy was just a year or two, and the girl was about five.  “We would not even know about the abuse of the little boy,” said Clark, “unless it were for the confession that the perpetrator made at the time of his conviction.  Going back and piecing it together, witnesses now recall the young boy screaming and yelling whenever he was alone with the perpetrator, who had a propensity for physical cruelty at the same time as he was engaged in sexual abuse,” said Clark. The lawsuit seeks in excess of $3 million on behalf of each plaintiff, and the defendants in the case include the Western Oregon Conference Association of Seventh-Day Adventists, and the East Salem Seventh-Day Adventist Church, an Oregon corporation. 

The suit contends that both plaintiffs have experienced permanent psychological damage as the result of the abuse. Clark contends that the teen’s background either was, or could have easily been, fully discovered by a reasonable investigation by Church authorities.  The suit contends that the perpetrator had a history of sexual misconduct involving children in Washington State, and was under restrictions, either legal or family, to have no contact with children. Clark has filed two other cases against the Oregon Adventists in the last six months as well, both arising out of Roseburg, one from the Milo Academy, and one involving the Roseburg Junior Academy.  Those cases are still pending. 

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 View the Official Complaint.

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