Levy Konigsberg and co-counsel have filed a lawsuit on behalf
of over 65 men and women who suffered sexual abuse when they were
confined as children across ten juvenile detention and residential
treatment facilities in Pennsylvania.
NEW
YORK, July 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
Levy Konigsberg and co-counsel have filed dozens of lawsuits
today on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, alleging
that juvenile detention and residential treatment facilities across
Pennsylvania failed to protect the
vulnerable children in their care. The lawsuits, brought on behalf
of over 65 men and women who were abused as children at a range of
public and private facilities, is the latest in a string of sexual
abuse lawsuits spearheaded by Levy Konigsberg in Pennsylvania and across the country. Over the
past two months, Levy Konigsberg and co-counsel have now filed
nearly 150 cases arising from sexual abuse at juvenile detention
and residential treatment centers in Pennsylvania.
As detailed in the lawsuits, Pennsylvania's juvenile detention and
residential treatment facilities have for decades subjected
children "to a culture of exploitation, violence, and rampant
sexual abuse." Widespread reports and investigations into the
traumatizing environments and violently abusive staff went ignored
by the government agencies and private companies responsible,
allowing generations numbers of children to suffer sexual abuse at
the hands of guards, counselors, and other staff members who were
supposed to be looking out for them.
The juvenile detention and residential treatment centers covered
in the lawsuits filed today include:
- Loysville Youth Development Center, North Central Secure
Treatment Unit, and South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit – all run
by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
- Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center
- Carson Valley Children's Aid
- Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health
- Northwestern Academy
- Presbyterian Children's Village
- St. Gabriel's Hall
- VisionQuest
The men and women who filed claims today include those who
suffered sexual abuse as far back as 2001 and as recently as 2020.
Despite the decades separating their experiences, these dozens of
survivors experienced disturbingly similar patterns of abuse across
the ten facilities, evidencing systemic failures at these
facilities in protecting children from harm.
Unfortunately, current law in Pennsylvania bars individuals who were born
prior to November 26, 1989 from
bringing claims for childhood sexual abuse. As a result, untold
numbers of survivors who were abused in earlier decades continue to
suffer in silence.
In announcing today's lawsuit filed on behalf of over 65 men and
women, Levy Konigsberg Partner Jerome Block stated:
"For decades, children have been sexually abused in juvenile
detention centers in Pennsylvania.
The operators of these facilities include the Pennsylvania
Department of Human Services and private corporations who put
profit ahead of the safety of children. These institutions and the
adult staff who perpetrated this widespread sexual abuse must be
held accountable. Many of these juvenile facilities where the
sexual abuse occurred remain open and we have seen no evidence that
the inadequate procedures and policies that enabled the sexual
abuse have been fixed. Levy Konigsberg represents hundreds of
survivors of sexual abuse at juvenile detention and residential
facilities across Pennsylvania and
plans to continue fighting tirelessly on their behalf."
Levy Konigsberg has filed hundreds of lawsuits on behalf of
survivors of sexual abuse nationwide, and is at the forefront of
litigation regarding abuse in juvenile detention and residential
treatment facilities, having filed some of the first lawsuits about
the widespread sexual abuse at such facilities in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. National news
outlets, including The Associated Press, The New
York Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer have covered
Levy Konigsberg's recent lawsuits on behalf of hundreds of men and
women who had been sexually abused as children at these facilities.
Interested parties can read some of these articles here, here,
here, and here.
Levy Konigsberg represents hundreds of survivors of sexual abuse
at Pennsylvania's juvenile
detention and residential treatment facilities and plans to
continue fighting tirelessly on their behalf.
For additional information about childhood sexual abuse lawsuits
spearheaded by Levy Konigsberg, media members and journalists are
encouraged to reach out to Attorney Jerome
Block by using the law firm's contact form:
https://www.levylaw.com/contact-us/
Media Contact: Erica Helcher,
Email: erica@thezenithcollective.com
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SOURCE Levy Konigsberg