Following the dismissal of fraud and civil conspiracy claims made by Logan Yandell against Kanakuk Kamps, Yandell’s attorneys are proceeding with litigation against the Christian summer camp in the Missouri court of appeals.
On Jan. 17, following arguments made by Kanakuk for a summary judgment in their favor two months prior, Christian County Judge Raymond M. Gross dismissed the case.
He ruled the claims were made outside the civil statute of limitations and were therefore time-barred and said the argument could not “establish actionable fraud or civil conspiracy” against Kanakuk and other defendants.
Logan Yandell today
The appeal challenges this ruling, claiming the trial court erred and should reverse its granting of summary judgment because “genuine issues of material fact exist” related to various findings upon which the ruling was based.
A former camper at Kanakuk Kamps, Yandell was abused by serial child sex abuser Peter Newman. After Newman’s confession in 2009 and conviction in 2010, when Yandell was still a teenager, the Yandell family settled with the organization. At the time, they believed camp leadership had no knowledge of Newman’s sexual misconduct prior to his confession.
The petition claims camp leadership, working with their insurer ACE American Insurance Co., deceitfully omitted information regarding their prior knowledge of abuse during settlement negotiations with the Yandell family. The family trusted CEO Joe White and believed he would transparently represent the situation; therefore, they chose not to seek further legal advice.
In late 2021, the family learned for the first time that leadership did have knowledge of Newman’s abuse of children for years prior to his confession, even prior to Yandell’s first year as a Kanakuk camper, after coming across an investigative article about abuse at the camp written by Nancy French.
Previous information of Newman’s trial had been publicly available in news coverage, although the Yandell family claims not to have followed media regarding the trial. Instead, Yandell’s parents say they chose to focus on caring for their family in response to their teenage son’s struggle with trauma and PTSD related to the abuse he suffered.
Gross’ decision that Yandell’s recent lawsuit against Kanakuk Kamps, which was first filed in late 2022, is outside of the statute of limitations assumes Yandell had a responsibility to practice “reasonable diligence” by remaining informed about public information on the matter.
However, Yandell’s appeal claims Kanakuk’s fraudulent misrepresentations induced him not to make efforts to discover additional information about the matter, which his family did not do because they trusted White as an individual and the integrity of the Christian summer camp as an institution. Therefore, he argues, the statute of limitations should be measured from the time of his discovery of this additional information in 2021, not from the time of Newman’s confession and conviction in 2009-2010.
The appeal also claims there are issues of material fact regarding multiple other issues the trial court did not reach in its original decision, such as whether ACE American Insurance Co. served as a responsible agent in the fraudulent representation, or whether White misrepresented Kanakuk’s knowledge because he intended to induce settlements with the Yandell family.
Related articles:
Judge dismisses Yandell v. Kanakuk claims, but litigation may proceed
Judge to decide if Yandell v. Kanakuk suit is within statute of limitations
Yandell v. Kanakuk lawsuit amended to include civil conspiracy claims
Motions to dismiss conspiracy charges in Yandell v. Kanakuk denied
Kanakuk sex abuser Pete Newman denied parole