UNITED STATES
Bangor Daily News
[national database – Attorney Kelly Clark]
[Geography determines justice for Scout abuse victims – Los Angeles Times]
By Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times
Ron Morgan and Kerry Lewis grew up in adjoining states — one in Idaho, the other in Oregon.
Both belonged to Boy Scout troops during the 1980s, and decades later, both alleged in lawsuits that the Scouts failed to protect them and other boys against known molesters, citing detailed evidence from the organization’s confidential files.
In 2010, Lewis won a jury verdict of nearly $20 million against the Scouts, the largest such award in the organization’s history. Morgan’s case was never considered on its merits. The Idaho Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that, under state law, it was filed too late.
“Our state … turned us away,” Morgan said. “His didn’t.” …
In a statement, Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said the group, which since 2010 has required members to report suspicions of abuse to law enforcement, was not focused on potential lawsuits, “but rather on continuing to enhance our multitiered policies and procedures to help keep kids safe.”
“As for statute of limitations,” Smith added, “the BSA respects the decisions which are made by lawmakers and the judicial system.”
In general, it’s difficult to bring a lawsuit now based on abuse that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, said Marci Hamilton, a professor at Yeshiva University’s law school. “I am floored at how many strong cases are capable of going nowhere because of a statute,” she said.
In some states, lawyers can argue that normal time limits shouldn’t apply because an institution covered up sexual abuse.
Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson said he recently persuaded a Nevada judge not to dismiss a lawsuit by a man who said a Catholic priest groped him in the 1980s. In court papers, he argued that only in 2008 did the man learn that church officials knew that the priest had previously been accused of sexually assaulting others.
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