Oregon Public Broadcasting

A Portland jury is deciding if the Boy Scouts of America will have to pay punitive damages in a sex-abuse trial.

The jury can award up to $25 million to punish the Scouts. The jury already decided the organization’s negligence allowed a scoutmaster to molest plaintiff Kerry Lewis in 1983.  Amelia Templeton reports.

Lawyers in the case wrapped up their arguments Thursday.  Now at least nine jurors have to agree on the dollar amount the Boy Scouts will pay.

The jury can award any amount from zero to $25 million. And the law doesn’t give them much guidance on how to calculate the verdict.

The amount has to be reasonable, given the harm that Kerry Lewis suffered. And the jury can take into account the financial situation of the Scouts.

Paul Mones is a plaintiff’s attorney. He argued that the $25 million he’s asking for is barely enough to get the Scout’s attention.

Paul Mones “The Boy Scouts of America have $929 million in assets. Yearly revenue of $400 million.”

Mones also said the Scouts had a liability fund with $66 million in it. And paid their top executive more than one million dollars a year.

The damages are supposed to punish the Scouts for their negligence decades ago. But the money has a second purpose: To deter the Scouts from making the same mistakes in the future. 

And the Scouts argue they’ve already changed their policies. Kids are no longer allowed to be alone with an adult.

Charles Smith is an attorney for the Scouts. He read from a list of pamphlets the organization created on child abuse.

Charles Smith: “The BSA tried to assemble one of the finest team of consultants in the country to look at this problem and help us.”

Plaintiff’s attorney Mones said the Scout’s educational materials avoid the real issue. Because he says they never mention that scout masters could be the ones molesting children.

Smith disputed that. He asked the jury not to punish the Boy Scouts of America for being less than perfect.

 Charles Smith: “We’re damned if we do. We’re damned if we don’t.”

The state of Oregon will get sixty percent of the punitive damages award. The money goes to a fund for crime victims.

Twenty percent goes to the plaintiff’s lawyers. Kerry Lewis will get the remaining twenty percent.