The law firm of Hurley McKenna & Mertz, P.C. has represented dozens of courageous individuals who survived sexual abuse at the hands of Boy Scouts of America troop leaders, volunteers, and staff, including two of the most notorious predators—Thomas Hacker and Charles Bickerstaff. We are working on behalf of these survivors of abuse to hold the Boy Scouts of America accountable.
Victims of child sex abuse must endure the resulting severe pain, suffering, and emotional distress from the abuse for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts of America has provided countless opportunities for sexual predators to abuse children over the last century. In the past pedophiles infiltrated the Boy Scouts of America at every level, from volunteers to executives, and used their association with the Boy Scouts organization to prey on innocent children.
Recently, Boy Scouts of America was forced by court order to release a portion of what are known as the “perversion files.” The perversion files were compiled by the Boy Scouts of America as a way of tracking adult volunteers accused of sexually abusing minors in Boy Scouts. These files show that the Boy Scouts organization in Illinois and in other states covered up child sex abuse and protected predatory pedophiles on numerous occasions by failing to report instances of abuse to law enforcement.
A number of former Boy Scout executives as well as volunteers are currently serving jail time for their heinous and despicable acts of sexual abuse of children. The Boy Scouts of America has also been sued in courts throughout the United States due to its negligence in failing to prevent pedophiles from infiltrating the organization.
“I honestly, to the core of my soul, believe that had we had other attorneys, our outcome would not have been in our favor—not by any stretch of the imagination. In timing, monetarily, emotionally, we would not have had near the outcome.”
Our Chicago sexual abuse attorneys represent 15 men who had their childhoods robbed from them—and their lives damaged forever—due to sexual abuse perpetrated by Boy Scout troop leader Thomas Hacker. In December of 2012, Hurley McKenna & Mertz, P.C. first filed suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, on behalf of a courageous former Boy Scout. The suit states that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the Chicago Area Council failed to protect dozens of young Boy Scouts from serial pedophile Thomas Hacker, who is now serving a 100-year prison sentence in Illinois. The suit alleges that the Boy Scouts were aware of Hacker’s arrest in Indiana for sexual assault and battery of boys as early as February 1970. Yet because of the Boy Scouts of America’s inadequate screening system, Hacker resurfaced as a scoutmaster in Illinois later in the 1970s and continued molesting boys for the better part of two decades after that.
Thomas Hacker holds the pathetic record as “the most prolific molester in Scouting: He moved among troops and schools for 25 years, molesting, by his estimate, “well over 100′ boys.” (Patrick Boyle, Scout’s Honor: Sexual Abuse in America’s Most Trusted Institution). Based on media coverage of our lawsuit against the Boy Scouts, other brave survivors of Thomas Hacker now know that they are not alone. They have come forward so that the Boy Scouts of America will know that it must accept responsibility for the horrific abuse of young scouts.
Contact HM&M if you or someone you love has been the victim of sexual abuse. Call 312-553-4900 for a free consultation with a qualified Chicago sexual abuse attorney.
Victims of sexual abuse deserve justice. We help them find it. For more information, including an explanation of what to expect in the legal process, a checklist for parents and victims, answers to frequently asked questions, and other information, please click here, or call us at 312-553-4900.
For a free consultation, contact Hurley McKenna & Mertz, P.C. today at 312-553-4900 or fill out our online form to have a lawyer contact you.
