Lawsuits to be filed against Boy Scouts and Mormon Church

By

Tom Hallman Jr., The Oregonian

A Portland attorney who has filed multi-million dollar lawsuits over the years on behalf of hundreds of adults who claimed they were sexually abused as children said Sunday night he plans to file similar lawsuits Monday morning in three states.

The suits allege abuse by the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, said Kelly Clark,  who has represented victims of Jesuit priest abuse. Clark alleges three boys were allegedly abused in San Francisco, one in Portland and another in Seattle, all while participating in the Boy Scouts. He said the Boy Scout program has been a part of the Mormon church’s official men’s program for decades.

“There is a close connection,” Clark said. “The Mormon church sponsors 50 percent of the Boy Scout troops in the Western United States.”

Oregon church leaders were unavailable for comment. The operator at the national headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, said no one would be available to discuss the suits until Monday.

Clark said he planned to file the first suit in San Francisco and then travel north Monday to Portland and then Seattle.

Clark said the alleged abuse took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He claimed the alleged abuse occurred over a period of years.