Court overturns $12M sex abuse verdict against Boy Scouts

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

HARTFORD, Conn. — The state Supreme Court on Monday overturned a $12 million jury verdict against the Boy Scouts of America — the largest ever against the organization — in the case of a boy who said he was sexually assaulted by an older boy in his troop in the mid-1970s.

Justices ordered a new trial in a split decision, saying the trial judge improperly denied a defense request to instruct jurors on negligence liability. Three of the seven justices said they believed the case should have been dismissed because of a two-year statute of limitations on lawsuits alleging negligence and recklessness.

The plaintiff, identified as John Doe in court documents, sued the Irving, Texas-based Boy Scouts in 2012. He said he was sexually assaulted three times beginning when he was 11 by an older Scout in Troop 137 in New Fairfield. He said the abuse sent his life into a downward spiral of suicide attempts, drug abuse and an inability to be intimate with people.

Doe's lawsuit said national Boy Scouts leaders failed to protect him. He said leaders knew for decades about child sexual abuse during scouting activities, including many instances of older Scouts sexually assaulting younger Scouts, but didn't act to prevent it.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/ap/ap/texas/court-overturns-12m-sex-abuse-verdict-against-boy-/nsjs5/

[cstanleytech]

1. The boy scouts would be well advised to settle the case for 12 million now before

it goes back to trial because if they dont they will then be on the potential hook for even more money not to mention the varies legal costs of continuing to defend themselves in court.