Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Today Hurley McKenna & Mertz filed suit in the Circuit Court of Winnebago County against Charles Bickerstaff, The Boy Scouts of America and the Blackhawk Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Charles Bickerstaff is a 57 man that served as an executive for the Boy Scouts of America for 33 years before he retired. He served at Boy Scout offices in Minnesota; Kansas City, Missouri; Heidelberg, Germany; and Rockford, Illinois over the course of his career.

Bickerstaff is now in the Lee County jail on multiple charges for criminal sexual assault on two minors aged 13 and 16. His bond is set at $4 million. The charges against Bickerstaff date back to 1998. Local police have located diaries in Bickerstaff's possession that discuss his compulsions to sexually abuse children and identify many other victims.

Bickerstaff met our client through his work with the Boy Scouts of America and used his position as an executive with the Blackhawk Area Council to gain the trust of the boy's family.

Our suit alleges that the Boy Scouts of America failed to adequately check Bickerstaff's background and failed to adequately follow up on allegations of misconduct by Bickerstaff while he was working in the Boy Scout organization.

Our office has access to thousands of files which the Boy Scouts of America created over many years and which document the fact that pedophiles are attracted to scouting. In fact, in 2005 the Director of the Boy Scouts of America Youth Protection Task Force was convicted for trafficking in child pornography.

The purpose of the suit we filed today is to bring this issue into the light of day. We know that pedophiles are not stopped until someone stops them. We are proud to be working with a young man with the courage to try to make sure this stops with him.

How can this be avoided in the future? We suggest the following as a start:

1.) Rather than hiding this problem make it public. Make sure parents understand the extent and the history of the problem so they can help protect their own children.

2.) Require thorough background checks on all people associated with scouting including volunteers and employees.

3.) Aggressively follow up on complaints or accusations of misconduct by anyone associated with scouting.

4.) Enforce the rule that no scouts should be alone with unrelated adults at any time. There should be zero tolerance for violations of this rule. Create an environment where pedophiles cannot operate. If pedophiles are denied access to scouts they will not be attracted to scouting.

5.) Use the thousands of files in the possession of the Boy Scouts of America which document the deviant behavior of people thrown out of scouting and develop a profile of the typical pedophile attracted to scouting. Use this information to educate leaders and parents so no more kids are victimized.

6.) Create an environment where abused children are not afraid to tell the truth. These children need help from professionals. They should not be made to feel shame but should be thanked for their courage in coming forward.

Today Chicago law firm Hurley McKenna & Mertz, filed suit against Charles Bickerstaff and the Boy Scouts of America and the Black Hawk Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America for civil damages arising out of the sexual abuse of their minor client while Bickerstaff was the Senior District Executive for the Black hawk Area Council in Rockford, Illinois. A copy of the filed complaint can be referenced below:

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In a victory for victims of negligent medical care in Illinois, Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Diane Larsen, ruled that caps on damages for medical malpractice are not constitutional in Illinois. The case will now proceed to the Illinois Supreme Court where the justices will address the constitutionality of the caps. On two prior occasions The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled caps to be unconstitutional. A consistent ruling by the Supreme Court will mean that this law limiting the damages of the most severely injured victims will be rejected like those before it.

“The Bush administration, responding to a wave of recent food and product recalls, is set to announce today its most aggressive regulatory proposals yet on policing imports. But much of their success depends on congressional action, and some lawmakers and outside experts already contend they are inadequate. The initiative aims to steer the nation toward a prevention-based regulatory system that targets the riskiest products. It calls for giving more authority to agencies that regulate food and consumer goods, improving data-gathering on imports, and increasing cooperation between agencies and with U.S. trading partners. The Food and Drug Administration, for example, would be granted power to require manufacturers and importers of ‘high risk’ products to take steps to prevent contamination and other problems. The FDA could require producers and importers of such goods to certify they comply with FDA standards. The FDA could bar imports if it is given no access or only limited access to production records. The agency would also be able to mandate recalls on tainted products, something it can't do now.”

Jane Zhang, John D McKinnon, and Christopher Conkey, Wall Street Journal, 11-6-07

As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer I wish I could say that things like this never happened:

“The family of a woman who died earlier this year after collapsing on an emergency room's floor as she waited for treatment has filed a $45 million lawsuit against the county. The lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court claims negligence, medical malpractice and wrongful death on the part of Los Angeles County, county police and some of the staff at the county's Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43, died May 9 of a perforated bowel after writhing in pain on the floor for 45 minutes without receiving care. She was discharged and sat on a bench outside the facility, yelling in pain.”

Associated Press, 11-6-07