NJ’s top court lets Boys & Girls Clubs of America off hook in sex abuse lawsuits

Justice Rachel Wainer Apter, who penned the majority decision, said the circumstances of alleged abuse dictate whether an out-of-state parent group should bear culpability in New Jersey.

In the case at hand, nine people sued the national group, its Hudson County chapter, and Arthur Freudenberg, a part-time counselor for that chapter, for abuse they say occurred between 1978 and 1982 at both at his apartment and during activities sponsored by the local chapter. He was charged with 493 counts of aggravated sexual assault of boys ages 11 to 13 in the 1980s and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The plaintiffs had argued that the national group, which was chartered by Congress in Washington, D.C., and now is headquartered in Georgia, failed to adopt policies and procedures to safeguard children from sexual abuse, such as prohibiting volunteers or employees from taking minors home or spending time alone with them.

But the court’s majority was unswayed, noting that the plaintiffs’ argument would give courts in all 50 states the authority to judge the national group “on any claim in which an agent or employee of a local club was alleged to cause some harm, as long as the plaintiff alleged that the harm could have been avoided” had the group promulgated some kind of policy or procedure.

The alleged abuse did not occur at an activity sponsored by the national group, on property it owned, or at the hands of a national employee, Wainer Apter wrote. And while the national group provided the local chapter with its logo, sample programming, assistance in budgeting and volunteer development, and such support, the lawsuits did not arise from or relate to any of those contacts, she added.

“Here, plaintiffs do not allege that BGCA purposefully sent a known sexual abuser, who worked as its employee or agent, to New Jersey. And they do not allege that their abuse took place during a BGCA trip or an event that BGCA purposefully planned in New Jersey,” Wainer Apter wrote.

The decision affirms an appellate ruling, which had reversed a trial court’s decision allowing the claims against the national group to proceed.

It also aligns with the state Supreme Court’s ruling last year in which the justices unanimously agreed New Jersey courts lacked personal jurisdiction over the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in a lawsuit filed by a man who said a Philadelphia priest abused him in a private home in Margate during an overnight stay the priest did not clear with his church supervisors.

Justice John Jay Hoffman, in a dissent to Wednesday’s decision that Justice Douglas Fasciale joined, charged that the majority’s decision ignores the “particular failure” of the national group — which promotes its local chapters as a “safe haven” for children — to keep those children safe from sexual abuse.

“The majority is mistaken, and the impact of this error on these plaintiffs is grave,” Hoffman wrote. “By denying specific jurisdiction, the majority declines to fulfill its obligation to provide a forum of redress to plaintiffs and, in doing so, ignores the history of BGC of America’s significant ties to New Jersey, as well as decades of United States and New Jersey Supreme Court precedent.”

Wainer Apter dismissed that concern, noting that the lawsuits can proceed against the local chapter and Freudenberg.

“To be clear: Plaintiffs’ claims will be heard in New Jersey. They simply will not be heard against BGCA,” she wrote.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America did not respond to requests for comment.

The case comes amid a spike in sex abuse lawsuits that occurred after New Jersey lawmakers enacted the New Jersey Child Victims Act in 2019.

That law created a two-year window, from 2019 to 2021, to allow people to revive previously time-barred civil claims arising from childhood sexual abuse. It also allows victims to sue for childhood abuse before they turn 55 or within seven years of realizing the abuse caused them harm. Most states do not have such laws, leaving victims seeking justice for long-ago abuse with no legal recourse.

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