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: [email protected]
SOURCE Levy Konigsberg
