Boy Scouts Sued for Sexual Abuse

A Portland Oregon man has sued the Boy Scouts of America and its local Cascade Pacific Council for more than $3 million, alleging sexual abuse by two troop leaders in the mid-1970s.

The Plaintiff’s lawyer, Kelly Clark was quoted in a story reported in The Oregonian as saying:

“We also intend to prove that the Boy Scouts were well aware, by at least the 1960s, that they had a serious, institution-wide infestation of child abuse, stretching across the country, involving hundreds of predators and thousands of children.”

There have been sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Boy Scouts here in Canada, see for example S.C. v. Boy Scouts of Canada . There have also been dozens (perhaps hundreds) of successful lawsuits across Canada where the perpetrator was affliated with the Boy Scouts and used this to prey on his victims.

However, I am not aware of any successful claims alleging systemic problems in the Boy Scout organization.

This suit in Oregon will be an interesting one to watch. If Clark is successful in proving a national cover up, we are likely to see a flood of lawsuits similar to those being filed against the Catholic Church and those suits are likey to also be filed here in Canada.