Illinois Lawyer Blog

A Portland, Oregon jury recently awarded compensatory damages of $1.4 million to Kerry Lewis, 38[pictured above] in his sexual abuse trial against the Boy Scouts of America[BSA]. The abuse had taken place in the 1980's when Lewis was a young boy. The verdict, in light of the evidence, is hardly surprising.

Lewis was a member of a Boy Scout troop sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints[commonly called the Mormon Church]. The pedophile Scoutmaster, Timor Dykes, was a member of the church congregation. In 1983, before abusing Lewis, Dykes had gone to a Mormon bishop and confessed that he had already abused 17 boys. Dykes was then briefly barred from participating in Scouts. In 1984, he was then allowed to rejoin the Scouts. Some parents of the Scouts were advised about the Dykes suspension. The parents of Kerry Lewis were not. Shortly after rejoining the Scouts, Dykes sexually abused Lewis.

During the trial, the plaintiff was allowed to offer evidence regarding the "perversion files" - nearly 1000 files documenting cases of suspected sexual abuse in the BSA. The BSA had tried to keep the files confidential, but the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the files were admissible.

Next week the jury reconvenes to consider the issue of punitive damages. I anticipate a large punitive award as well.

One of my favorites legal writers, Kenneth P. Nolan had a great Sidebar column in the April issue of the Litigation, the American Bar Association Section of Litigation Journal. The column offered some advice to judges on how to run a courtroom. The column should be read in its entirety[as all of Nolan's columns should]. With apologies to Mr. Nolan, I offer the highlights:

1. Be on time. Nothing more annoying that waiting, with 25 other equally annoyed lawyers for a judge to take the bench. We do have other places to be.

2. You're not God. As Nolan correctly points out, a good percentage of sitting state court judges are wearing robes because they share DNA with powerful policitical types and NOT because they were Law Review at Harvard. No one expects you to be Solomon. If you make a mistake, admit and move on. A judge who admits his or her mistakes makes quite an impression.

3. Don't be a bully. My personal favorite. I was in a courtroom last week where some old fart judge was rude, impatient and dismissive with virtually every lawyer who stepped up. Are lawyers annoying? Absolutely. But most of us are trying our best, sometimes under more pressure than we would like to admit. So how about you cut us some slack and ease up on the venom?

4 Lawyers have to make a living. And as Nolan points out, making a living these days is a little more complicated than it was when your honor practiced 30 years ago. Lots of plates spinning in the air at the same time. Keep that in mind the next time you hear a request for a brief continuance.

5. Be fair. Maybe you logged a couple of years working for an in-house insurance company defending personal injury claims before you ascended to the bench. There you were expected to think that every personal injury plaintiff is a lying weasel. Okay, but now you're a judge. Sure sometimes it is hard to push those feelings aside, but as Nolan notes "You can do it. You're that good".