Window of opportunity allows lawsuit to be filed
(Honolulu, HI) Working with the Oahu-based law firm of Mark Gallagher, nationally prominent clergy abuse law firm Jeff Anderson& Associates, announced today the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of two Honolulu men who say they were sexually abused in the 1980’s by a Christian Brother employed at Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu.
The plaintiffs, identified in the complaint as John Roe 3 and John Roe 4 to protect their privacy, both state that as students at Damien they trusted Brother Robert N. Brouillette and came to have great admiration and respect for him. What the men didn’t know was that they were being groomed and would soon be victims of sexual abuse.
The complaint, filed yesterday in Circuit Court in Honolulu, Hawaii, alleges that after a period of time Roe 3 and Roe 4 were forced to perform various sexual acts including oral sex.
The lawsuit claims that leaders in the Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii were aware of claims of previous complaints of sexual misconduct by Brouillette, but as in past practice, concealed the information from the students and left them vulnerable to an alleged sexual offender. As a result, the complaint states, the Diocese was grossly negligent in not warning students at Damien of Brouillette’s history.
In addition to the Diocese and Brouillette, the Congregation of Christian Brothers of Hawaii is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit on behalf of the two men is the third filed under a new law allowing adults who were victims of sex abuse as a child a two year “window” to seek justice in Hawaii’s civil courts. The legislation was approved in by Hawaii’s legislature in May and subsequently signed into law by Governor Neil Abercrombie.
A copy of the complaint is available at: www.AndersonAdvocates.com or www.AbusedinHawaii.com