Connecticut Jury Awards $7 Million to Sex Abuse Victim

CONNECTICUT — A Superior Court jury in Waterbury handed up a $7 million verdict last month to a victim who was abused by a boy scouts leader in the 1970s, multiple news outlets reported. The jury found that the Boy Scouts of America organization was liable, but that the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, the Connecticut Yankee Council, was not liable. During the two-week trial, the plaintiff, only identified as “John Doe” in court records, testified that he had been molested three times by a long-serving scout troop leader from New Fairfield. At trial, the plaintiff’s attorneys presented evidence that the national organization was aware of child sexual abuse taking place, but did nothing to stop it. Attorneys for the Boy Scouts national organization declined to comment on the verdict.