PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon jury today is expected to begin considering millions of dollars more in possible damages against the Boy Scouts of America in a case involving a man who was repeatedly molested by an assistant Scoutmaster.
The jury has already awarded $1.4 million to Kerry Lewis, 38, for the 1980s abuse and could decide the Irving, Texas-based Boy Scouts organization must pay as much as $25 million more in punitive damages.
The hearing was to take about three days, with the jury then getting the case again.
In a verdict last week, the Portland jury found the Scouts organization negligent. It plans to appeal.
The verdict was based partly on the introduction as evidence of more than 1,000 so-called “perversion files” the Boy Scouts kept for decades.
Lawyers for the Scouts argued the files helped weed out suspected child molesters.
Attorneys for Lewis said that keeping the files secret meant parents, children and volunteers weren’t warned. They said the Scouts failed to set up a system to prevent and report abuse.
Former assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes acknowledged in early 1983 that he had abused 17 Boy Scouts. Dykes was later convicted three times of various abuse charges involving boys and served time.
Shortly before trial, he acknowledged in a deposition to abusing Lewis.
Patrick Boyle, author of a book about sex abuse within the Scouts, said that in a stretch from 1984 through 1992, the Scouts were sued at least 60 times across the country for alleged sex abuse, with settlements and judgments totaling more than $16 million.
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