We have a lawsuit going right now against the Boy Scouts in Portland on behalf of a man who was sexually abused when he was 12 by his Scoutmaster, a man eventually kicked out of his troop for molesting our client, his three brothers, and at least eight other Scouts.
The Boy Scouts allowed the man, Clyde Brock, to give the excuse that he was resigning because of poor health. BSA agreed that if he agreed to resign quietly, they wouldn’t call the police or even tell the parents of the abused boys. They even went so far as to suggest Brock should get an award at the troop’s 50th anniversary dinner to quiet rumors about the real reason he left the troop.
Brock wasn’t the only Scout volunteer to be caught abusing boys. Since at least 1920 and probably since the Boy Scouts began in 1911, BSA has kept “Ineligible Volunteer” files on men accused of molesting boys that the BSA calls “Perversion” files. BSA created thousands and thousands of these files over the decades.
As part of the “discovery” process in the case, we asked the BSA to produce records of studies the organizations paid for over the years regarding sexual abuse of Scouts by BSA employees or volunteers, BSA’s Youth Protection program, and the Ineligible Volunteer files. Specifically, we asked for studies prepared for the BSA by Dr. David Finkelhor; Dr. Janet Warren, including her full report “Review of the Ineligible Volunteer (IV) Files of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)”; Praesidium, Inc.; and any other outside audit company, individual, or consultant.
BSA objected to producing these documents. We had to file a Motion to Compel and the trial judge ordered BSA to produce them. BSA filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus to the Oregon Supreme Court asking the higher court to intervene to prevent BSA from having to produce the documents.
Yesterday, the Oregon Supreme Court issued its ruling, denying BSA’s petition and refusing to reverse the trial court’s Order compelling production. You may read the ruling in its entirety here. Under the trial court’s ruling, BSA now has 10 days to produce the records. We expect they will fight back, but they are running out of options.
The sexual abuse of children thrives in secrecy. Only by throwing light on the Boy Scout’s history of child sex abuse will this organization come to terms with its past, help all Scouts who were sexually exploited, and earn back the trust it once took for granted.