Motions to Dismiss Conspiracy Charges in Yandell v. Kanakuk Denied

Motions filed by defendants Kanakuk and ACE American Insurance Co. to dismiss a recent amendment to Logan Yandell’s lawsuit against Kanakuk Kamps for civil conspiracy have been denied.

Yandell’s lawsuit alleges the defendants committed fraud against him by failing to adequately disclose and represent knowledge of sexual misconduct committed against children at the camp by serial child sex abuser Peter Newman, who just days ago was denied the opportunity for parole while serving his life sentence in Missouri.

An amendment made to the lawsuit earlier this year added charges of civil conspiracy, alleging the defendants named in the lawsuit, including Kanakuk Kamps and ACE Insurance Co., conspired together to commit these acts of fraud.

At the time of negotiations with families, Kanakuk and ACE Insurance Co. claimed they had no prior knowledge of Newman’s serial child sex abuse, despite records dating back to around 1999 or 2000 which indicated Newman was engaging in illegal and sexually explicit behavior with children reported to Kanakuk by at least one concerned parent. Newman still was allowed to work with children at Kanakuk and at times promoted, despite this.

The lawsuit claims all defendants should have known their claims failing to recall this prior knowledge of abuse were false at the time of negotiations.

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These negotiations resulted in settlements from survivors of Newman’s abuse, including Yandell and many others, with Kanakuk Kamps. At that time, Yandell and other survivors and their families agreed to non-disclosure agreements as part of their settlements. These agreements, Yandell alleges, were made under the false pretense that Kanakuk had no prior knowledge of Newman’s abuse.

In turn, the lawsuit claims defendants benefitted in professional or financial ways from their conspiracies to provide false information or failure to provide pertinent information to survivors and their families.

Following the civil conspiracy amendment, both Kanakuk Kamps and ACE Insurance Co. filed motions to dismiss these claims, arguing they had no duty to disclose any further information to Yandell and his family during negotiations. All motions to dismiss Yandell’s civil conspiracy charges have been denied.

This article was originally published by Baptist News Global. It is reprinted with permission.

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