Judge: Boys Club had no system for reporting abuse
STAMFORD — The Greenwich Boys & Girls Club breached its duty of care for six men who claim they were sexually abused there as children as it failed to properly train and supervise its staff, a Stamford Superior Court judge said Friday.
“The club had a very lax method of conducting its operations,” said Judge John F. Kavanewsky, when ruling on potential damages during a pre-trial hearing. “Especially given the number of boys who came and went through its portal on a daily basis.”
During the time of the alleged abuse in the 1970s and 1980s at the thenGreenwich Boys Club on Horseneck Lane, the club also did not offer any viable system for the boys to confide to adults what had been done to them, Kavanewsky said. Several men testified last week they did not even realize at the time that what they had endured was sexual abuse, and they did not disclose what had happened to anyone until they were adults.
An attorney for the six victims sought damages in the amount of $19 million to be split between the men, who are all now in their 50s. Defense attorney Jeffrey White argued that amount was excessive, but said he would leave it to the judge’s discretion to determine a fair final amount.
Kavanewsky ruled Friday that damages be set at $4.5 million and that the club provide details about its assets before the case heads to trial this summer. The judge gets to decide on the amount reasonable for damages before it goes to trial because the plaintiffs had sought this prejudicial remedy hearing. Included are amounts for physical and mental injuries as well as potential loss of earnings.
“The court finds that all of the plaintiffs will likely require some measure of mental health intervention for the rest of their lives,” Kavanewsky said. “And
that’s not to even speak of the interventions they have had to date.”
The six men, represented by attorney Philip Russell, have filed three separate lawsuits going back to 2017 against the Greenwich club claiming sexual abuse at the hands of Andrew Atkinson. Some of the men were as young as 6 when the alleged abuse started, they testified in court.
The three lawsuits have been consolidated to conserve judicial time and resources as they involve similar allegations and the same witnesses.
A fourth lawsuit is pending in New York state under the Child Victims Act. It had originally been filed in Connecticut but was withdrawn last year to be refiled in New York, as some of the alleged abuse took place during a clubsponsored trip to Rye Playland in that state.
All four lawsuits name Atkinson as the perpetrator, but he is not named as a defendant in any of the lawsuits. A teen himself at the time, Atkinson was a locker room supervisor and has during an interview denied abusing any children.
The suits claim the teen would use his supervisory position to bully, rape, sodomize and physically assault younger children in various locations at the club and off-site and that at least three adult employees of the club — including the director — knew about the abuse and ignored it.
Another six men have spoken out about the abuse they suffered at the club, but their claims could not be pursued due to Connecticut’s statute of limitations, Russell has said.
Despite the lawsuits, Russell said he wanted to make very clear he thinks in general, the Boys & Girls Clubs offers a great service and it’s mission is a noble one.
“The Boys Club is not a bad place, it’s not a bad thing,” Russell said Friday. “But a bad thing happened there.”
The club — which has not disputed the abuse claims in court, only the claim staff knew what Atkinson was doing — has said it remains committed to protecting children and serving the needs of the community. It also said it respects those who have come forward with abuse allegations.
The Greenwich club is a local affiliate of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which has said it is continuously working to strengthen safety requirements and training at local clubs.
“Our commitment to young people, their safety, and well-being is unyielding,” the Boys & Girls Clubs of America said in a statement. “We must ensure that every child is heard, and that it is clear that there is no place in our organization for those that would want to harm them.”
The lawsuits against the Greenwich Boys & Girls Club spurred a lengthy Hearst Connecticut Media investigation into sexual abuse tied to Boys & Girls Club affiliates across the country. The investigation, which resulted in the first known national database cataloging the alleged abuse, has so far found 351 victims in 35 states.