A Kanakuk Kamps sexual abuse survivor can continue his lawsuit, according to a Missouri judge.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss was held on February 5 when Christian County Circuit Judge Jessica Kruse took the matter under advisement. Then on February 27, she denied the motions to dismiss and will allow Andrew Summersett’s case to continue against Kanakuk and ACE Insurance Company.
Summersett filed suit in June 2024 alleging fraud and fraudulent concealment, claiming Kanakuk and its leaders intentionally omitted critical information and made misrepresentations that prevented Summersett from pursuing his claim for bodily injury against them.
Summersett, now 37, claims he was abused by former Kanakuk camp director Peter Newman in 2001 and 2002. He allegedly told Jamie Jo (Braner) Johnson and Andrew Braner, former directors of Kanakuk Colorado, about the abuse in 2009, asking if they knew anything about accusations of Newman’s sexual abuse of children.
Johnson allegedly told him she did not know about them, while Andrew Braner warned Summersett against making “a mess of this,” and saying “now [was] not a good time to talk.” He also told Summersett to “back off, given the circumstances,” the court filings claim.
Kanakuk asserted that Summersett’s claim for fraud was time barred by the statute of limitations and ought to be dismissed.
In a brief about the motion to dismiss, the camp argued that Summersett had a duty to show that he “exercised due diligence to uncover the facts surrounding the alleged fraud prior to April 2021,” at which point his fraud claim would be barred by the statute of limitations. However, Kanakuk said that Summersett did not include any facts in his lawsuit illustrating his efforts to discover the fraud.
The camp also argued that Johnson and Braner did not make any specific representations to Summersett with the intent of preventing him from pursuing a claim against Kanakuk.
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Summersett asserted that whether or not he had prior knowledge of Newman’s misconduct is irrelevant to the motion to dismiss because he is alleging in his lawsuit that Kanakuk concealed its knowledge of Newman’s conduct. Summersett claims he did not learn about the camp’s misrepresentations about their knowledge until April 2021.
In January, Kanakuk and ACE Insurance prevailed in a motion for summary judgment against Logan Yandell, another Kanakuk Kamps abuse survivor. A summary judgment dispenses with a lawsuit based on the legal filings without going to trial.
Missouri Judge Raymond Gross granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment because he said the claims were time-barred and because Yandell could not “establish actionable fraud or civil conspiracy against these defendants.”
Yandell has appealed the lower court’s decision.
Attorney Robert Thrasher represents both Yandell and Summersett.
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