Nearly four years ago, Robb Lawson of Gainesville came forward with a story he had kept secret for more than 30 years.
In chilling detail, Lawson, now 49, alleged that, while on a Boy Scout outing at Rainey Mountain’s Mowogo Lodge, he was sexually assaulted by longtime scoutmaster Fleming Weaver. Lawson sued Weaver in Fulton County State Court, taking advantage of legislation temporarily extending the statute of limitations in Georgia for childhood victims of sexual abuse seeking damages.
But that window only opened so far. Last year, Lawson’s attorneys withdrew his suit, unable to overcome the protections granted by Georgia law protecting entities such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church from civil liability for their roles in allegedly shielding child predators.
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“It’s been very stressful and trying because of the lack of progress,” Lawson said. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has tried repeatedly, without success, to contact Weaver over the years for comment.
A potentially groundbreaking federal lawsuit filed Monday in Washington, D.C. could provide Lawson and other accusers with a new legal option. The eight plaintiffs, identified as John Does 1 through 8, reside in states — such as Georgia — where statute of limitations laws prevent them from suing the Boy Scouts based on claims of sexual assault dating back several decades. Although none of the plaintiffs are from Georgia, the lawyers bringing the new case say they represent 25 clients who were sexually abused elsewhere while in Scout troops. They have yet to file any lawsuits based on those claims.
The issue of sexual abuse inside the Boy Scouts was exposed in 2012, when the organization was ordered by an Oregon judge to release ineligible volunteer files documenting more than a thousand alleged incidents of sexual abuse from 1965 to 1985. Boy Scouts of America has refused to release any of the so-called “perversion files” maintained after 1985, arguing that confidentiality makes it easier for victims to come forward.
Altogether 6,000 such files are believed to exist, said Atlanta attorney Darren Penn. He represents plaintiffs in a suit against the late scoutmaster Ernest Boland, accused of widespread sexual abuse over two decades in the Athens area.
And that’s just the boys who reported abuse.
“I’m not sure we’re going to see a floodgate of legislation,” said Emma Hetherington, director of the University of Georgia Law School’s Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic.
Boy Scouts of America, still the largest youth organization in the U.S., with nearly 3 million members and 1 million adult volunteers, has argued that the organization could not survive the onslaught of lawsuits that would accompany any legislation relaxing the statute of limitations.
The BSA declined comment on the D.C. suit, citing pending litigation.
“We believe victims, we support them, we pay for counseling by a provider of their choice and we encourage them to come forward,” the organization said in a statement.
Critics say the Scouts have failed victims of abuse by choosing to preserve the institution over protecting its members.
“We’re supposed to be telling these bad actors that we as a society won’t allow that kind of behavior,” Hetherington said.
And with the average age of disclosure by sexual abuse victims being 52 years old, statute of limitations laws serve mainly to keep their stories from being told, she said.
Lawson said he does not regret sharing his account.
“Things are definitely moving in the right direction nationally, but not in Georgia,” he said.
His attorneys are considering refiling his case in New Jersey, one of several states that eased its statute of limitations in 2019. In the D.C. suit, attorneys for the plaintiffs’ lawyers argue that federal court in Washington is an appropriate venue for such a lawsuit because Boy Scouts of America incorporated there in 1910.
“I’ll go wherever I have to go to get justice,” Lawson said.
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