In the first major filing under California’s Assembly Bill 218 — which allows victims to confront their accused abusers in court — six women have filed suit against USA Swimming, alleging the organization failed to protect them from coaches who were known sexual predators. In the lawsuit, three coaches are accused of abusing the women during the early 1980s when they were between the ages of 12 and 17.
Protests and riots during the worst pandemic in a generation. These are some of the most difficult times many of us have ever seen. Our country is in turmoil in the wake of the horrendous acts perpetrated against George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others.
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For years, businesses nationwide have purchased expensive insurance policies to protect them from unknown risk and unforeseeable losses. Now, a growing number of business owners, who are in the midst of suffering existential business losses, are discovering their safety nets have been pulled out from underneath them.
Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, recently wrote a letter to members claiming lawsuit reform is essential to business growth in Georgia. Not only is this false, but it is also a scare tactic which will only hurt Georgians. As a small business owner and long-time Chamber member, I feel compelled to respond to these falsities.
Electric scooters or “e-scooters” have been a hot topic since they started hitting our streets in 2017. They are all the rage … the positive definition but also the “angry rage” around their safety and how they have taken over our sidewalks and streets. They’ve provided challenges since the day they launched.
By: Kevin M. Ketner, Penn Law
Spurred into action by the recent Catholic Church child sex abuse scandals, lawmakers from Virginia and Washington, D.C. have announced their intent to propose legislation that would add clergy members to the list of people legally required to report cases of suspected child abuse or neglect.
Sexual Abuse Victims: Why They Wait
“Why did she wait so many years?”
That’s the question asked by many during the recent testimony by Christine Blasey Ford at Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court hearings. This is a common tactic for those who seek to question the validity of sexual assault allegations which occurred years ago. The implication is that the length of time between the assault and the accusation somehow makes the allegations less credible.
A recent Pennsylvania grand jury report described internal documents from six Catholic dioceses revealing that more than 300 “predator priests” sexually abused more than 1,000 children over the course of several decades. Since its publication, the contents of this report have stirred widespread public outrage and reignited demands seeking justice for victims. While the report has brought these issues to the forefront yet again, it is unlikely to lead to any new criminal or civil consequences for the accused priests under current law.
Former Pennsylvania Boy Scout Leader, Stephen Piller, admitted Wednesday to sexually assaulting three minor Boy Scouts over the course of several years.
In an article published by The Associated Press, authorities reveal the 51-year-old man abused the scouts, both “at Piller’s home and at Camp Trexler, a Boy Scout facility in Monroe County [Pennsylvania].”
A new grand jury report says that internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania show that more than 300 “predator priests” have been credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims.” (CNN)
We’ve worked with many clients on similar cases, including filings against the Darlington School in Rome, Ga, the Northeast Georgia Boy Scout Council, and two Athens, Georgia churches. While this grand jury report is expansive, laws in place in Pennsylvania make it almost impossible for the victims to achieve justice. In Pennsylvania and many other states, including in Georgia, victims must file suit at a very young age, are allowed little time for discovery, and cannot file criminal charges past a certain point.
During the 2018 Legislative Session, we worked to strengthen Georgia’s Hidden Predator Law, which would have expanded protections for these victims. Those efforts were unsuccessful, but we continue to use every effort avenue available to support victims of childhood sexual abuse and to advocate for changes to the law in Georgia.
See links below to stories about the Pennsylvania cases from CNN and The New York Times.