Breaking the Law has been on a two-week hiatus but fear not: This week, I bring you a double dose. Starting today, with the Boyscouts. Remember: I’m writing about pending litigation that’s not yet been decided in court. We’re talking about allegations, and not facts:
BOYSCOUT TROUP 76 LEADERS: Thomas Hensley (left) and Steven Terry Hill (right)…

I previewed this yesterday, but now the suit is public, here’s the details: A 44-year-old former boyscout is suing the Boy Scouts of America for over $3m in compensation, over allegations he was abused by Scout Master Steven Terry Hill and assistant Scout Master Thomas Hensley for several years beginning in 1976.

The plaintiff, who is suing under the fictional name ‘M.S’, alleges he met Hill and Hensley at Gregory Heights Middle School in Glenhaven Park, NE Portland, when they were recruiting for a “high adventure” Scouting group there.

Hill is currently incarcerated, having been convicted in the early 1990s of multiple counts related to child sexual abuse and delivering controlled substances to a minor. Hensley’s wherabouts are currently unknown. More after the jump.

Kelly Clark is an attorney specializing in abuse cases, who has taken on the case. He hopes that witnesses will come forward who may have some recollection of having been in the scout troupe. Clark has filed over 100 similar abuse cases in the last decade, including against various entities of the Catholic Church. He is able to get around the 3-year statute of limitations in Oregon Law in cases like these, because victims of abuse often deny that the abuse has affected them for years, or choose to categorize it as something else.

"And then they have this a-ha moment," Clark says. "Where for example, for this client, they will realize that what they thought was one thing was in fact something else. They'll think, 'I wasn't in love with this guy. It was abuse.'" And then they have three years to decide to sue. For example:

Hill and Hensley, both adults, engaged in intentional conduct resulting in physical injury, mental injury, rape, sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation of Plaintiff...Specifically, Hill and Hensley sexually abused and molested Plaintiff ofor several years beginning in or around 1976, which began with instances of fondling and mutual masturbation. Hill and HEnsley then began to supply Plaintiff drugs and alcohol, and often induced Plaintiff to watch them engage in sex with each other. Eventually, Hill and Hensley forced Plaintiff to submit to oral and anal abuse. In all, Hill and Hensley sexually abused Plaintiff on average at least twice a week for nearly two years—well over one hundred occasions in total.

That's got to have been quite an "a-ha moment" for this particular plaintiff, if the allegations are true.

Clark is suing the Scouts because they held themselves out to the public "as providing a safe, healthy, and trustworthy environment for children." Clark argues that they knew by at least the 1960s that the Scouts "had a serious, widespread problem with its volunteers and leaders engaging in inappropriate sexual contact with children." The suit alleges the Scouts were having to remove leaders at a rate of up to one every three days for sexual improprieties with children.

The Plaintiff alleges he has suffered severe and debilitating physical, mental, and emotional injury, including pain and suffering, physical and emotional trauma, and permanent psychological damage—for which he is seeking $3m. He also has ongoing costs for counseling, psychiatric and psychological medical treatment, for which he is seeking $100,000. In addition, he is seeking punitive damages to be decided at court.

Makes me glad I quit the Scouts after two weeks. Perhaps what I took for basic laziness turns out to have been the expression of a deep, self-protective instinct.