Poly Prep Country Day School Sexual Abuse

[MuffyBee]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443409904577619981834061096.html
Lawyers Say Ruling Allows Abuse Suits
August 29, 2012

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U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block ruled Tuesday that the statute of limitations didn't automatically disqualify a case against Poly Prep Country Day School, even though some allegations date back to 1966.

Twelve alumni of the Brooklyn private school and its summer program claim they were raped and abused by Philip Foglietta, a revered football coach whose 25-year career at the school started that same year. Mr. Foglietta died in 1998.

The plaintiffs argued that the statute of limitations shouldn't apply because Poly Prep knew about the abuse and covered it up—continuing to publicly celebrate Mr. Foglietta as an upstanding member of the school. As a result, the plaintiffs say, they were prevented from promptly filing their lawsuit.

In a 40-page ruling, Judge Block dismissed some claims—including racketeering charges against Poly Prep—but allowed substantial portions of the case to move forward.

"Any person who was sexually abused by an institution that covered it up should look very carefully at the specific facts of his or her case before making a determination on whether or not to try and seek legal relief," said the plaintiffs' attorney in the suit, Kevin Mulhearn. "They shouldn't automatically assume that the case is too old and they can't do anything about it."

Poly Prep officials downplayed the decision. The school "believes the claims will ultimately be dismissed following a hearing," said spokesman Malcolm Farley. "We are still hopeful that the case may be settled."
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"Generally in the state of New York the courts have been relatively hostile to these kinds of claims," said Marci Hamilton, a Cardozo Law School professor specializing in sex-abuse cases. "So this is a very noteworthy case because a judge has approved a theory that would permit individuals who are older than 23 years of age to still be able to sue."

The case has attracted widespread attention in the wake of local sexual-abuse cases at Horace Mann, an elite Bronx prep school, and within New York City's Hasidic community, as well as high-profile cases involving Penn State University and the Catholic Church.

Messrs. Mulhearn and Dowd represent five of the plaintiffs in the Horace Mann case, which also involves decades-old abuse charges.
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Assemblyman Vito Lopez, a powerful lawmaker widely seen as blocking legislation in Albany to extend the statute of limitations, was censured last week after an ethics investigation substantiated sexual-harassment complaints made against him.

If the scandal results in Mr. Lopez's departure from the Assembly, "that removes someone who has been a major factor in opposing revision of the New York state statute of limitations for sexual abuse," said attorney Ed Wilson, an advocate for people who claim to have been abused by the Catholic Church.

Mr. Lopez could not be reached for comment.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleALD.jsp?id=1202569541064&Simpson_Thacher_Partners_Sex_Abuse_Claims_Against_Brooklyn_Prep_School_Will_Proceed&slreturn=20120822191119
Simpson Thacher Partner's Sex Abuse Claims Against Brooklyn Prep School Will Proceed
By Sara Randazzo
The Am Law Daily
August 29, 2012

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partner Philip Culhane finds a measure of peace in a federal judge's ruling Tuesday that a prominent Brooklyn prep school can't argue that New York State's statute of limitations should automatically nullify a lawsuit in which Culhane and 11 other men claim they were sexually molested by a revered football coach—and that school officials covered up the serial sexual abuse.

"No matter what happens from this point on, I’ve achieved one of my most important goals," Culhane says, "which is for the truth to be told."
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/sex_abuse_suit_against_klyn_poly_WKexWzOKRxRM3ZX2raC50J
Sex abuse suit against B'klyn's Poly Prep can go forward: Judge
August 29, 2012

A suit against elite Brooklyn private school Poly Prep — alleging that its famed former football coach sexually abused boys for decades — can move forward, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The suit was filed in Brooklyn federal court by 10 former students and two others who attended the school’s summer camp. They allege that Philip Foglietta, the coach from 1966 to 1991, molested them.

The school had tried to have the suit thrown out because of statute of limitations, but Judge Frederic Block refused,
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2012/08/31/alumnus-embroiled-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-involving-prep-school
Alumnus Embroiled in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Involving Prep School
August 31, 2012

Scott Smith ’79 has found himself on the opposing side of his younger brother Phillip Smith in a sex abuse case involving Poly Prep Country Day School, a private school in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Phillip, who did not attend college and has been battling drug and alcohol abuse for many years now, is now blaming Poly Prep.

In a $20 million lawsuit, Phillip and 11 others claim Philip Foglietta, who coached football at Poly Prep from 1966 to 1991, sexually abused them. The lawsuit also states that Poly Prep administrators allegedly knew about the abuse and covered it up to save the reputation of the athletics program at the school.
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/iteam/2012/09/poly-prep-must-provide-names-of-current-and-cormer-board-members-judge
Poly Prep must provide names of current and cormer board members: Judge
September 5, 2012

A federal judge in Brooklyn has ordered officials at Poly Prep Country Day School to produce the names of current and former members of the board of trustees from 1966 until the present.

United States Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak issued the order on Aug. 30, two days after U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block ruled that he will allow portions of an explosive sex-abuse lawsuit to proceed against the elite private school.

Lawyers for the 12 plaintiffs who claim they were sexually abused by longtime Poly Prep football coach Phil Foglietta had asked the court in June to compel the school to produce the names, last known addresses and dates of service for all current and former members of the board.

The plaintiffs, according to Pollak’s order, said they wanted the information to “ascertain the acts, omissions, and culpability of individual trustees in order to determine how to proceed with plaintiff’s remaining claims.”

Attorneys for Poly Prep asked Pollak to deny the request because the plaintiffs did not indicate whether they named to name each trustee as a defendant or notify the trustees about the lawsuit.
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[MuffyBee]

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-09-14/news/33848910_1_sexual-predator-abuse-suit-plaintiffs     
Judge wants settlement in Poly Prep sex abuse suit
September 14, 2012

 The judge overseeing the Poly Prep sexual-abuse lawsuit urged lawyers for the school and the men who say they were molested by football coach Phil Foglietta to reach a settlement at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court on Friday — and then gave them plenty of time to do so.

U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block, citing scheduling issues, said he won’t hold a hearing until Feb. 11 to determine if the school covered up decades of abuse by Foglietta, preventing the plaintiffs from filing a case before the statute of limitations expired. New York state law requires survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file a case by the time they are 23 years old.

Block ruled last month that portions of the explosive lawsuit filed on behalf of 10 students and two day campers can proceed. Lawyers for the elite private school, which charges up to $36,000 a year for tuition, had argued that the case should be dismissed because the statute of limitations had long expired. But Block's 40-page ruling said that argument may not be relevant because administrators may have lied about when they first learned that Foglietta, who died in 1998, was a sexual predator.

Attorneys for Poly Prep asked Block to reconsider his decision in papers filed on Tuesday, saying that his ruling clashes with New York state law regarding the statute of limitations. Block said he would rule on the request soon.
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/self-described-child-prostitute-connects-jerry-sandusky-poly-prep-sex-abuse-scandal-coach-phil-foglietta-article-1.1163303
Self-described 'child prostitute' connects Jerry Sandusky to Poly Prep sex abuse scandal and coach Phil Foglietta
Greg Bucceroni sends off email detailing explosive allegations that late Poly Prep football coach, whom he met at fund-raiser for Sandusky's Second Mile charity, was involved in child sex ring.
September 20, 2012

A Philadelphia man who claims to have been paid to have sex with former Poly Prep football coach Phil Foglietta in 1979 as part of an alleged pedophile ring that included Jerry Sandusky sent an email to several Poly Prep officials on Monday - including current headmaster David Harman - detailing the explosive allegation.

Greg Bucceroni, 48, also sent the email to Kevin Mulhearn, the Orangeburg, N.Y., attorney who represents 12 men who sued the school, alleging Poly Prep officials knew that Foglietta was a sexual predator but covered it up for decades in order to protect the elite institution's reputation and fund-raising efforts.

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Video at link

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