THE QUALITY OF MERCY

Op-Ed By John P. Ruane

I am a party in a civil suit against Delbarton School, an august, well-respected institution in Morristown, New Jersey, run by the Catholic order of Benedictines. The suit accuses Delbarton of negligence and seeks compensatory damages.

The two preceding sentences represent a straightforward statement of the situation. But add a single clarifying phrase — that the negligence involves child sexual abuse — and you can almost hear the giant can of worms being opened.

Why is this so? Why do such cases present themselves as intractable, prickly, better left swept under the rug?

The stigma attached to child sexual abuse figures in. The subject is disturbing. Plus the abuse is widespread: twelve percent of all children will experience some form of sexual maltreatment by the time they turn eighteen. Also, the legal response to accusations tends to adopt the scorched-earth policy of attack, deceive, deny, delay, recriminate.

So we have a ferocious countervailing reaction to an extensive, stigmatized concern, one that involves — if we crunch the numbers — a billion victims worldwide. It’s all too much. You’ve already turned the page.

There’s a name for these kinds of issues. “Wicked problems” refers to challenges involving many interdependent factors, making them appear impossible to address. Homelessness. Climate change. Addiction. Poverty.

And child sexual abuse.

These cases have rarely come before juries. The religious institutions prefer out-of-court settlements, complete with ironclad non-disclosure agreements.

Although the courts allow plaintiffs to use Jane Doe or John Doe as pseudonyms, I filed under my own name. I felt this was my own small way to face down the stigma, to brave the guilt, shame, and ugliness attached to victimhood. Personally and from speaking to others in similar positions, I well understand the long-lasting trauma involved here. There is no question about the social need for a cogent, caring, healing response.

That’s why I have sought to step outside of my individual role and attempt to think about how things could be different. It’s led me to question the oppositional, adversarial approach that has become all too familiar in such cases.

Heartlessness seems to be built into the legal system. Law firms fear malpractice suits if they do not get the long knives out, aggressively pursuing all methods of response, no matter how morally reprehensible they might be. Heavy-handed assaults on victim’s character and reputation, so familiar in rape cases, still remain common. Exhausting the financial resources of plaintiffs through countersuits and defying court orders are part and parcel of a charade of “we’re too big to fail.”

Could there be another way? Lately there has been a hint of a glimmer of a change. For legal purposes, my civil suit and others treat entities such as the Order of Benedictines as corporations. We have lately been asked to accept the notion that corporations are people. Isn’t it time we ask corporations to adhere to the same moral standards we expect from individuals? What is required can be boiled down into two words: transparency and accountability.

This would require a one-hundred-eighty degree turn. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, referencing a transformative change of heart, especially in a spiritual sense. The Christian religion portrays itself as a wellspring of mercy. It is high time that some of its healing, charitable, merciful waters spill over into the legal sphere and influence the response to child sexual abuse.

No more hollow words, but measurable action.

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There are thirty-nine civil lawsuits against Delbarton School and the Order of St. Benedict of NJ (OSBNJ). These are largely made possible by the New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Act of 2019. Prior to 2020, complaints of child sexual abuse at Delbarton were the subject of secret negotiated settlements tied to non-disclosure agreements, which meant that money would have to be returned if a complaint were made public. These cases are significant for their potential to protect children and families, and generate hope in our capacity for justice. They affirm the children are precious public responsibilities, not private property.

COMPLAINT, JURY DEMAND, DEMAND FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS.

Global prevalence of child sexual abuse ,

Link to Under the Green Wave, 200 entries and inks to published articles about the longstanding issues of child abuse at Delbarton School.

 (Morris County, New Jersey) – On September 17, 2020, in Morris County, New Jersey, Robins Kaplan LLP filed another lawsuit against Delbarton School and the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey (OSBNJ) on behalf of a survivor who alleges he was sexually abused when he was a student at Delbarton. The lawsuit brings negligence claims made possible by the New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Act, in 2019 as part of the New Jersey Victims’ Rights Bill. In addition to extending the statute of limitations for claims involving sex abuse, the NJCSAA also created a two-year look-back window to allow survivors to bring claims regardless of when the abuse occurred. The window will close on November 30, 2021.

Only recently has the Delbarton alumni community started to become aware of the true extent of abuse their fellow students suffered,” said attorney Rayna Kessler. “We are grateful to the courageous survivors who can finally speak their truth and seek justice against the institutions who failed to protect them when they were the most vulnerable.”

The alleged perpetrator identified in the lawsuit is Giacomo “Giac” Pagano, a lay teacher at Delbarton. Pagano is accused of sexually abusing Plaintiff John Ruane when Ruane was a minor in approximately 1970. Delbarton recently called Pagano to provide testimony in another pending child sex abuse case involving Delbarton.

Although New Jersey law allows survivors of sexual abuse to file complaints anonymously, using a pseudonym, Mr. Ruane explains his decision to come forward publicly:

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a crime that relies on shame, intimidation, and societal denial to silence victims, thereby allowing the crime to be repeated. Survivors experience significantly higher rates of PTSD, anger, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Moreover, its traumatic effects are deeply destructive to families.

OSBNJ and Delbarton have been aware of abuse at Delbarton for decades yet pay not a scintilla of respect to the children abused and assaulted by those entrusted with their care. It callously spins new accusations as old news. It treats former students as pariahs, as casualties of war to be left behind, and falsely casts itself as the victim.

In 2018, Delbarton made a disturbing revelation that at least thirty individuals had accused fourteen Delbarton priests and teachers of sexually abusing them between 1968 and 1999. In July and September of 2020, seven new lawsuits were filed against OSBNJ and Delbarton. *

It saddens me to consider how pervasive the problem has been at Delbarton. It angers me to see ignorance, greed, and callousness at work today. Whatever gambit Delbarton plays, humbling itself to the reality of its history will only happen because survivors generously and courageously speak the truth.

For decades, Delbarton’s failure to address the criminal behavior of its members has been protected by statutes of limitation, doctrines of charitable immunity, old rules of secrecy within the membership, blind deference to clergy, and a willingness to harm further the vulnerable who break the code of silence around the predatory behavior of trusted priests and teachers. These protections are now being stripped away in long-overdue legislation enacted by legislatures in NJ and many other domains. Support for talking openly about CSA is growing. Transparency is essential to eradicating sexual violence and child sex abuse. The determined efforts of social workers, trauma therapists, law enforcement, feminists, philanthropists, activists, advocates, legislators, progressive law practices, and survivors themselves are taking the air of authority out of organizations that preach kindness and moral values while preying on the most vulnerable. Survivors are learning what it means to develop a conviction, remain calm in the face of adversity, banish anger, state our case, and not compromise what’s most important for the sake of getting along. Survivor mentality refuses to be defined as “damaged goods” incapable of full recovery. Instead, advocates for changing the law, ending statutes of limitations, taking responsibility, and calling out bullies are committed to a process of releasing anger, healing mental illness, and working to ensure that silence will no longer imperil another generation of children.

If the leadership of OSBNJ and Delbarton is genuinely intent on protecting children and correcting the harm imposed on victims, it will cease its aggressive legal tactics towards plaintiffs. It would join survivors in publicly encouraging powerful religious and educational institutions to accept this opportunity to transform themselves for the better.

Several lawsuits are now filed against Delbarton and OSBNJ, where sexual abuse of minors is alleged to have been pervasive for decades. In a separate pending case, docket number MRS-399-17, Robins Kaplan represents another survivor of child sex abuse against Delbarton, OSBNJ, and the individual perpetrator, a priest/monk at Delbarton. In that lawsuit, Delbarton and OSBNJ challenged the constitutionality of the New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Act, which, if successful, would have time-barred all claims relying on the lookback window and would have denied the ability of most adult survivors to bring claims arising from past childhood sex abuse. Morris County Superior Court Judge Peter A. Bogaard denied their request and upheld the law based on extensive New Jersey precedent. Delbarton and OSBNJ moved for leave to appeal the Court’s decision. On August 26, 2020, Plaintiff moved to make several documents in Plaintiff T.M.’s matter publicly available, with the Court holding an oral argument on Friday, September 11, 2020. The parties are currently waiting for the Court’s decision. Plaintiff TM, who has chosen to file his lawsuit using a pseudonym, provides the following statement:

Each time another survivor steps forward to hold the perpetrators of abuse from St. Mary’s Abbey and Delbarton School accountable, part of me weeps while another part of me rejoices. I grieve knowing that innocence was so callously stripped from yet another young boy from my school, but I delight in knowing that yet another man has summoned the courage to stand to tell his truth.”

Having filed my case more than three and a half years ago, I can well attest to how difficult St. Mary’s Abbey and Delbarton School have made the process.My sincere hope is that John Ruane’s courageous action today will help his healing and inspire other survivors, who similarly were shamed and silenced, to join us in standing up against sexual abuse of Delbarton students while also seeking genuine repentance from the perpetrators of that abuse and the institution that covered it up. As our community of survivors inevitably grows, maybe the greater Delbarton community will awaken and stand against the malign behavior that harmed me and others and demand a complete investigation by a genuinely independent investigative firm. Only after a thorough investigation, performed by an independent agency that has total access to all of the institution’s archives, can we know the truth about our school’s past and earn back the trust that was lost. As matters stand now, there is no basis for such confidence.

“In representing survivors like Mr. Ruane and T.M., we are grateful for the opportunity to create lasting change by holding their institutions accountable and to help our clients finally be heard,” said Kessler. “We hope that by these brave survivors sharing their stories, Delbarton and OSBNJ will do the right thing and come to terms with the ugly history that has plagued their community for far too long.”

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Contacts

Rayna Kessler – 212.980.7431 (office) RKessler@RobinsKaplan.com (email)

Plaintiff John Ruane is available for comment/interview. Please contact Rayna Kessler with requests.

*As of September 2023, thirty-nine sexual abuse lawsuits are pending against OSBNJ and Delbarton .

ENTITLEMENT PROJECT

Background: Between 1968 and the 2000s, an epidemic of sexual abuse gripped Delbarton School, a grade seven-to-twelve educational institution for boys in Morristown, NJ, run by the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey. John P. Ruane was an object of the abuse. He tells a story about a long and twisted trail to resolution in the courts and the hearts and minds of those affected. In 2024 Delbarton School faces thirty-nine lawsuits charging negligence and coverup of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults by school employees.

The School:  Delbarton Today magazine features alumni ranging from actor Peter Dinklage and playwright Christopher Durang to Wayfair co-founder Steve Connie. A 2007 Wall Street Journal article titled How To Get Into Harvard ranked Delbarton #9 in a survey of high schools that are "delivering the goods, consistently getting students into highly selective universities." Delbarton was listed at #50 of all US high schools for sending graduates to Harvard, Princeton, or MIT between  2018 and 2020 by PolarisList.

The Project: The material explores the history, background, and repercussions of abusive treatment aimed at students by school authorities and the experience of continued denial, resistance, and stonewalling by the administration. The project's tone rises above anger-based judgment to elicit multiple perspectives and a singular outcome.

Counterweight Productions: John P. Ruane is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning producer. He serves as founder and executive producer of Counterweight Productions, an umbrella for creative projects that push the boundaries of prevailing media. He brings over forty years of experience in the media business, including twenty-five years in broadcasting at NBC.