BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
May 16, 2019
That law, lawyers and victims say, dissuades sexual abuse victims from coming forward.
“It’s a real slap in the face,” said a 64-year-old man, who was sexually abused by a scoutmaster in Hyde Park, Dedham and Walpole in the late 1960s. He was 12 at the time of the abuse.
“The cap minimizes what happened,” added the victim, whose name the Herald is withholding because he is a sexual assault victim. He received $20,000 a few years ago after suing the Boy Scouts.
“It should be more, especially if it happened to a minor,” he added. His lawyer, Carmen Durso, confirmed the details of the case to the Herald.
Bay State attorneys and lawmakers are looking to abolish the charitable immunity limit on cases against nonprofits. New York, New Jersey and the majority of other states have eliminated the cap.
“We’re usually the leader,” said state Rep. Carmine Gentile, a Sudbury Democrat. “This is one of those rare instances where the rest of the country got the message, but we haven’t yet in Massachusetts.”
Gentile has filed legislation to scrap the charitable immunity cap in Massachusetts, home of the lowest in the country. Other Massachusetts lawmakers have filed bills to raise the $20,000 cap on charities and universities, along with getting rid of the $100,000 cap for medical malpractice resulting in serious injury or death.
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