Oregon jury orders Boy Scouts to pay man $1.4M

PORTLAND, Ore. — A jury delivered an embarrassing rebuke to the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday when it found that the organization failed to protect a man who was molested by an assistant Scoutmaster in the early 1980s.

Jurors awarded $1.4 million to the former Portland man and decided that the Irving, Texas-based organization was liable for up to $25 million in punitive damages that will be decided in a separate phase of the trial.

Over the first three weeks of testimony, secret Scout "perversion files" — records of known sex offenders — were used as evidence, though it's unclear if jurors consulted the documents while deliberating over two days.

The Scouts denied allegations of negligence and said the files actually helped them keep child molesters out of their ranks.

Lawyers for Kerry Lewis, 38, the victim who filed the lawsuit, argued the Boy Scouts organization was reckless for allowing former assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes to continue to associate with the victim's Scout troop after Dykes acknowledged to a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints early in 1983 that he had molested 17 Boy Scouts.

Dykes was later convicted three times of various abuse charges involving boys and served time in prison. Shortly before trial, he acknowledged in a deposition to abusing Lewis.

The church was the charter organization for an estimated third to one half of the Boy Scout troops in the nation in the 1980s.

The jury found the Boy Scouts of American 60 percent liable, the Cascade Pacific Council 15 percent liable and the LDS Church 25 percent liable.

Since the LDS Church was one of the original defendants in the case, it was required by Oregon law to be listed on the verdict form, said church attorney Steve English.

However, the LDS Church settled out of court a year earlier and will not be a party to any of the jury-determined financial damages, England said.

"We settled these claims well over a year ago and were able to give the victims compensation to start their healing process," he said, adding that "the LDS Church absolutely condemns any kind of child abuse."

Deron Smith, Boy Scouts national spokesman, said the organization believes the allegations against its efforts to protect young people are not valid and the Scouts will appeal.