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The New York-based Levy Konigsberg firm said it filed on behalf
of more than 60 people, alleging government-run and private
facilities did not protect their clients when they were
children.
The latest cases make allegations that date from more than two
decades ago until last year.
“Despite the decades separating their experiences, these dozens
of survivors experienced disturbingly similar patterns of abuse
across the various facilities, evidencing systemic failures at
these institutions in protecting children from harm,” the law
firm said in a news release.
The filings on Wednesday included 10 people suing the
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services in Dauphin County,
where the state capital of Harrisburg is located, for claims of
abuse inside state-operated facilities. Together with the
allegations filed earlier this year, 45 clients of Levy
Konigsberg have sued the state.
The new negligence and breaach of fiduciary duty lawsuit against
Human Services says the plaintiffs were sexually abused by
guards, counselors and other staff members “who were supposed to
be watching out for them" inside the Loysville Youth Development
Center, the North Central Secure Treatment Unit in Danville and
the South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit near Chambersburg.
“This longstanding, widespread pattern of abuse could only have
flourished at these facilities because the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania tolerated it, failing the children in its care
through decades of negligence,” the lawsuit claims.
A spokesman for the Department of Human Services, Brandon
Cwalina, said the agency does not comment about pending
litigation but noted it does not countenance abuse or
haraassment. He said anyone who suspects a child has been
sexually abused or sexually harassed at any facility should call
Pennsylvania's child safety hotline, ChildLine, at
1-800-932-0313.
The other lawsuits were filed in federal and county courthouses
in other parts of Pennsylvania.
The law firm has also pursued similar litigation in
Illinois,Maryland, New Jersey and Michigan.
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