Logan Yandell’s lawsuit alleging misdeeds by Kanakuk Kamps and other relevant entities, including ACE American Insurance Co., has been amended to include civil conspiracy claims.
Count 1 of the lawsuit outlines the ways leadership at the two companies allegedly committed fraud against Yandell by failing to adequately represent and disclose their knowledge of sexual misconduct committed at the hands of serial child sex abuser Peter Newman.
Despite camp leaders being aware of various instances of his sexual misconduct with children dating back to at least 1999, Newman was able to retain employment at Kanakuk, and even achieve promotions, until his confession in 2009. Likewise, Newman had access to many children and is believed to have abused hundreds of children, including Yandell, during his tenure at Kanakuk Kamps.
Logan Yandell
After Newman’s confession, Yandell and his parents agreed to settle claims against Kanakuk and enter a nondisclosure agreement in July 2010, after being told during negotiations with Kanakuk and ACE Insurance that leadership had no prior knowledge of Newman’s serial abuse of children — a claim both defendants knew was false at the time of the settlement, according to Yandell. Due to these allegedly false representations, Yandell and his parents were induced to settle claims against Kanakuk.
The amended lawsuit adds a second count relating to the aforementioned instance of fraud: Civil conspiracy.
Count 2 alleges that all defendants named in the lawsuit, including Kanakuk Kamps, ACE Insurance and all relevant entities, conspired individually and together to commit the acts of fraud alleged in Count 1. The lawsuit says each defendant benefitted in some professional or financial way from the choice to make false claims to survivors and their families.
The suit alleges this occurred when Kanakuk defendants drafted a letter disclosing knowledge of Newman’s sexual misconduct in June 2010 with the intention of sending it out to families, specifically identifying events of sexual misconduct involving Newman and admitting their long-lasting choice to employ him at Kanakuk despite knowledge of these things. However, the letter allegedly was withheld after ACE adjuster Marilyn Cannon threatened to deny coverage to Kanakuk if this information was sent to families, saying the information “may be used in civil litigation as a tool to show knowledge of improper actions of Mr. Newman prior to his arrest.”
Thus, by agreeing not to publicly disclose knowledge of Newman’s serial abuse of children to families of potential survivors, Kanakuk and ACE American Insurance Co. were able to knowingly misrepresent their knowledge of Newman’s serial abuse while working to induce settlement agreements with survivors and their families, who did not know the complete truth of the situation and relied on the defendants to honestly represent it, the suit contends.
As a result, Yandell alleges he and many other survivors who settled under false pretenses due to this civil conspiracy have suffered long-lasting damages.
Related articles:
Kanakuk survivors calling for support as Peter Newman’s parole hearing approaches
Notes from the abused at Kamp Kanakuk: ‘You know what Satan is doing, but you still let him in’
Child sex abuse survivors from Kanakuk, other organizations unite for statute of limitations reform
Pedophilia at Kanakuk: Power, lies and evangelical values that cover up abuse