Sexual Abuse Claims Blog

Toronto anesthesiologist Dr. George Doodnaught Doodnaught, worked at Toronto's North York General Hospital.

Charged With Sexually Assaulting Sleeping Patients

Doodnaught was charged six months ago with sexually assaulting three of his female patients while they were under anesthesia.

Police laid 26 additional charges on Thursday, after 26 more women came forward with further allegations of sexual assault.

Lawsuit Filed

26 of the women have filed a civil suit agaist the hospital. They are represented by my colleague Darcy Merkur at the Toronto firm, Thomson Rogers. I have worked with Darcy before and I can say without hesitation that the plaintiffs in this case have made the right choice.

Want More Information?

Doodnaught has been an anesthesiologist since 1981. If you were a patient of Doodnaught and have any concerns about the treatment you received, I recommend you contact Darcy.

From time to time sexual abuse survivors have named the Vatican as a defendant in priest sexual abuse lawsuits.

So far as I am aware, none of these claims have been successful.

I read an interesting post recently on the SLAW blog about the basis of the Vatican's claims for sovereign immunity (the right of the head of a foreign state to be immune from arrest and prosecution).

For those of us interested in the issue of liability for sexual abuse by Catholic priests, it makes an interesting read.

Ontario Priest Charged With More Sexual Abuse Crimes

Catholic Priest Rev. William Hodgson Marshall a former Windsor high school principal is facing two criminal charges of indecent assault in Toronto when Marshall was teaching and coaching basketball at St. Michael's College school in 1953.

More Charges
Today Windsor police announced that Marshall has been charged with six additional charges of indecent or sexual assault for incidents alleged to have occurred in Windsor during the 1950s and '80s.

Marshall taught at Assumption College school from 1954-56 and Holy Names high school from 1985-89.

Toronto police Const. Tony Vella said there may be more victims in Toronto.

"We believe there will be more charges...We're urging anyone that may have been victimized by the man to come forward."

Tip of the Iceberg?
I have been representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse for almost twenty years. I have represented hundreds of victims of priest sexual abuse. In all that time, I have had only ONE case where there was only ONE documented victim.

The sad fact is that the victims that have come forward so far are just the tip of the iceberg. If there is one victim of sexual abuse, there are likely dozens. Sexual abusers cannot be cured. They continue to prey upon their victims until they are caught. Even after receiving "treatment" sexual offenders have a high rate of recidivism (risk of re-offending).

Follow-up studies of sexual offenders typically find sexual recidivism rates of 10%-15% after five years, 20% after 10 years, and 30%-40% after 20 years.

Sexual abuse survivors can help each other by speaking out about their abuse. Silence only protects the abusers and allows them to continue their predations.

Tellthe police. Tell a counsellor. Tell a family member or friend. But tell someone!

Terry Kohut has kept a dark secret for nearly 50 years. Now he is breaking his silence, becoming a key figure in the sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and the growing controversy over what Pope Benedict XVI did about it.

When Terry Kohut was barely a teen, he says he was sexually molested and assaulted by Father Lawrence C. Murphy, the headmaster and priest of the school where he lived, St. John’s School for the Deaf, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

According to court and church documents Murphy raped and molested as many as 200 deaf boys who lived at the school between 1950 to 1974.

Pope Named in Lawsuit
Kohut has filed the first sex-abuse lawsuit against the Vatican that names Pope Benedict, previously known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as a defendant.

Ratzinger was once head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, (the CDF) that was in charge of investigating the sexual abuse of minors by priests. And though church records show the abuse by Father Murphy was brought to the attention of Ratzinger and the CDF, a Canon Law trial against the headmaster was stopped and he was allowed to remain a priest.

The Vatican’s “policy of secrecy” in abuse cases, and its “directives to conceal the sexual abuse of children” by priests, the lawsuit says, helped bring about the abuse of Kohut and others by Father Murphy.

Now CNN is airing a special documentary report, “What the Pope Knew.” The program will air Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, at 9pm here in Atlantic.

Continue reading " What the Pope Knew: CNN Investigative Report " »

Father Charles J. Picot is a former priest from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst, New Brunswick. Picot was ordained in 1974 and served in the Bathurst Diocese until 1993.

In 1993 Picot was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.

In March of this year he was found not guilty of the indecent assault against a boy who was a member of his parish in Dalhousie, New Brunswick in the 1970s.

The not guilty verdict is currently under appeal. The appeal is scheduled to be heard by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal on October 25, 2010.

I currently represent a number of persons who allege they were sexually abused by Father Charles Picot. We have been retained to file a claim against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst for compensation for Picot’s sexual abuse. For more information you can contact me by calling me toll free at 1(877) 423-2050 or by emailing me through this blog.

A story about the survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School and their families.

I am proud to have played a small part in helping Nora Bernard (rest her soul) achieve accountability and justice for the Shubenacadie survivors and thousands of other residential schools students across Canada.

Pope Benedict XVI is in London. Today he offered an apology for the "unspeakable crime" of sxual molestation by priests.

Benedict expressed:

"...his deep sorrow and shame over what the victims and their families suffered,"

More than 10,000 people marched to protest the Pope's handling of the priest sexual abuse crisis.

A statement issued by the Vatican said that Benedict:

"... prayed with them and assured them that the Catholic Church is continuing to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people, and that it is doing all in its power to investigate allegations, to collaborate with civil authorities and to bring to justice (those) ... accused of these egregious crimes."

The statement was similar to those issued in the past; lot's of words about "investigating" and cooperating and "justice".

I have a word for His Holiness:

RESPONSIBILITY

It seems the Pope is having some difficulty moving through the Responsibility process so I am providing this helpful visual aid.

Time Limits for Sexual Abuse Claims

This week the Supreme Court of Canada released its decisions in a pair of historical sexual abuse cases arising out of Nova Scotia. In Borden v. Attorney General of Nova Scotia and Smith v. Attorney General of Nova Scotia, the plaintiffs filed claims against the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children and the Children’s Aid Society alleging the defendants were liable for damages for sexual assault and breach of fiduciary duty relating to sexual abuse that allegedly occurred in the home between 1966 and 1984.

The Home for Colored Children and the Children’s Aid Society applied for summary judgment to dismiss the claims on the basis that they were statute barred pursuant to Nova Scotia’s Limitation of Actions Act.

Takes Time to Discover Effects of Abuse

Courts across Canada have recognized that survivors of childhood sexual abuse may not realize they have a potential claim until much later in life. The so called “discoverability rule” has been applied by courts in every province in Canada. The discoverability rule has also been enshrined in provincial legislation.

Harms Connected to Assaults

Essentially, the discoverability rule means that the time for filling a lawsuit is “paused” until the plaintiff recognizes the connection between the sexual assaults and harms that they have suffered. The time limit is paused if the claimant is not capable of taking steps to pursue their claim as a result of a physical or psychological disability they suffered because of the sexual abuse.

Time is Still Important!

However, the discoverability rule also requires that plaintiffs take steps to move forward with their claim as soon as they discover the connection between their childhood abuse and the effects/harms that they have suffered.

In the Borden and Smith cases the defendants led evidence that both plaintiffs were aware that they were sexually abused as children, they were aware that the abuse was wrong, and they were aware of the effects that they had suffered as a result of the abuse many years before they filed their claims.

As I have reported before, Justice Goodfellow determined that the claims for negligence and sexual assault were statute barred because the plaintiffs had waited too long before filing their claims.

Nova Scotia Sexual Abuse Claims Barred by Statute: Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims can Proceed

However, Justice Goodfellow confirmed that the claim for breach of fiduciary duty was not barred by statute and allowed the breach of fiduciary duty claims to continue.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal confirmed Justice Goodfellow’s decision. Today the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the decision of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal and dismissed the plaintiffs' appeals. The Court also ordered the plaintiffs to pay the defendants’ cost of the appeal.

Why is it Important?

This decision is important to survivors of sexual abuse because it shows that defendants can successfully defend these claims even before the case gets to trial by arguing that the plaintiff waited too long to file their lawsuit.

As a result of this decision, survivors can expect defendants to spend a great deal of time examining the plaintiff’s past medical and counseling records to see if the survivor ever disclosed the abuse to anyone before they filed their lawsuit. If so, how long did they wait before getting legal advice?

Get Legal Advice as Soon as Possible

The fact is that no matter how difficult it is for survivors of sexual abuse to move forward with these types of claims, it is important that they get proper legal advice as soon as possible about their rights because a survivor’s right to receive fair compensation may be eliminated by a statute of limitation if the survivor waits too long before taking steps to pursue a compensation claim.

Continue reading " Statute of Limitations in Sexual Abuse Claims: Supreme Court of Canada " »

A new class action has been filed in Quebec alleging sexual abuse by priests.

The class action names the Community of the Clerics of St. Viateur in Montreal and the Raymond-Dewar Institute (also known as the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb) as defendants.

The representative plaintiff, Serge D’arcy says he was a victim of sexual abuse by priests while attending the institute between 1967 and 1972. D'arcy states that he was subjected to physical and sexual abuse by priests who were members of the religious group who taught and worked at the Dewar Institute.

I applaud Mr. D'arcy's courage in coming forward on behalf of himself and other victims.

I am pleased to see that class action legislation is being used as a tool to help more victims of childhood abuse. I had the pleasure of being invited to present on this issue at The Canadian Institute's 9th Annual summit on Institutional Liability for Sexual Assault & Abuse.

Ron Martin's sexual abuse class action against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish was a groundbreaking claim. The landmark settlement achieved in that class action will provide accountability, closure, and fair compensation to victims who would never be able to speak publicly about what happened to them.