Legal Cases

Alley v. Alley was a 1994 civil case from Seattle in which the plaintiff, Julie Alley, successfully sued her father, William Alley, for sexual assault in her childhood.

Bachmann v. Gummersbach was a 1994 case precipitated by Henry Bachmann’s recovered memories of being sodomized in 1964 by Rev. James Gummersbach in the basement of the Church of Immaculate Conception in St. Louis.

Bryan Bacon vs. Brother William Mueller was a 2005 civil suit filed in St. Louis, MO by Bryan Bacon after he recovered memory of 1985 abuse by his Catholic high school teacher Brother William Mueller in a 2004 therapy session.

John Doe v. Claude Edward Foulk (LA County, CA) was a 2010 criminal case in which Foulk was sentenced to 248 years in state prison, charged with 35 counts of oral copulation, sodomy by use of force, and forcible lewd acts on a child.

Cheit v. San Francisco Boys Chorus and William Farmer was a 1994 civil case based upon Ross Cheit's recovered memories of abuse by William Farmer

Colorado v. Marshall Adam Walker was a criminal case from 2007 in which Walker was convicted on 30 of 35 counts of sexual abuse in the late 90s.

Colorado v. Philbert G. Pargas was a 2009 criminal case in which Pargas was tried for 16 counts related to the sexual assault of two girls between 1997 and 2007.

One of the most well known clergy abuse cases in America, Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Porter resulted in Father James R. Porter being sentenced to 18-20 years of imprisonment after pleading guilty to 41 charges for the sexual abuse of 28 children.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Crawford was a 1994 criminal case in which Franklin Crawford was found guilty of murder after John Reed recovered memories of witnessing Crawford dispose of the body ove 20 years earlier.

Commonwealth of Virginia v. Donnell was a 1992 criminal case from Virginia in which Lee Roy Donnell was convicted on one count of sexual battery for the sexual assault of his daughter when she was 13 years old.

Commonwealth v. Smith was a 1990 felony criminal case from Virginia, in which Landon Carter Smith plead guilty to the sexual abuse of his daughter.

Crook v. Murphy was a 1994 civil case from Washington in which Lynn Crook, the oldest of six children, successfully sued her father for recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse.

In a 1996 case involving a 39-year old Canadian actress, D.M.M. “[r]emembered repeated abuse by her family doctor when she joined Alcoholics Anonymous after years of heavy drinking".

Delaware v. Calvin Lee Huss was a 2010 case in which Huss pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl over a seven-month period in 1993.

Franklin v. Stevenson was a 1996 civil case from Utah based upon Cherise Franklin’s memories of sexual abuse by Kenton Stevenson.

Gonzalez v. Boullon is a 1994 case from florida in which Dr. Nina Gonzalez successfully brought a civil suit against her stepfather, Luis Boullon, in Florida.

A civil case was brought in 1994 by T. Jeffrey Haines’ in response to recovered memory of sexual abuse by Rev. J. Faulton Hodge of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina.

Her Majesty the Queen v. Stanley Charles Huntingford was a 1995 criminal case based upon "D"’s recovered memory of sexual abuse by her father, Stanley Huntingford, 20-34 years earlier.

Herald v. Hood was a 1992 civil case from Ohio in which Julie Herald sued her uncle, Dennis Hood, alleging sexual abuse from age 3 (in 1962) through 15.

Hewczuk v. Sambor was a 1992 civil action frm Pennsylvania in which Hewczuk sued her father for physical and sexual abuse she recalled in adulthood after having a miscarriage.

Hoult v. Hoult was a 1993 civil suit from Massachusetts against David Hoult for sustained child sexual abuse of a daughter, Jennifer Hoult, who recovered memories of the abuse in adulthood.

Illinois v. Rev. Fred Lenczycki was a 2004 criminal case from DePage county IIllinois in which Lenczycki pled guilty to three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with his abuse of three boys while he was a priest in Hinsdale between 1980 and 1984.

John M. Vai v. Francis DeLuca and St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Parish was a 2010 civil case in which a Dover, Delaware jury found St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic parish grossly negligent in its failure to properly supervise then-priest Francis DeLuca and responsible for $3 million of $30 million in damages awarded to John M. Vai, who was repeatedly molested as a teenager in the 1960s.

K.B. v. Mathes was a 1982 civil case from Washington in which Judge Justin L. Quackenbush judged for the plaintiff, based upon K.B.’s recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse by a neighbor and close family friend.

Keene v. Edie was a 1993 civil case (King County Superior Court, 1993) in which the jury found that Ronald Edie had molested his former neighbor between 1973 and 1977, awarding Keene $313,000 in damages.

Leonard v. Estate of Cowles was a 1993 civil case from Florida in which Frank Leonard sued Cowles estate for damages based upon his recollection, in therapy, of childhood abuse by his uncle, Tampa publishing executive Frank Cowles, Jr.

Lt. Commander Kenneth Whitwell v. Rev. Edward J. Smith was a 2007 civil case from 2007 in which Whitwell sued Rev. Edward J. Smith and Archmere Academy, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, and Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli in response to recoverd memories of abuse that occured during his schooling at Archmere.

Mark Blackowiak v. Richard Kemp was a 1990's civil case which was appealed to the Supreme Court of Minnesota but dismissed as outside of the statute of limitations.

Martinelli v. Diocese of Bridgeport was a 1997 civil suit from Connecticut in which Frank Martinelli sought redress for sexual abuse committed by Father Laurence Brett at St. Cecilia Church in Stamford between 1962 and 1964.

Meiers-Post v. Schafer was a civil suit filed in 1988 by Jan Meires-Post against her former high school teacher for sexual abuse that occured from 1970 to 1974.

Nicolette v. Carey was a 1990 civil action from Michigan by Suzanne Nicolette against her father, Joseph Carey, for childhood sexual abuse first remembered in adulthood.

Oklahoma v. Warner was a 1998 criminal case in which Warner was convicted for first-degree rape and for first-degree rape by instrumentation.

People v. Hoffman was a 1994 case from New York in which David Hoffman was convicted for sexually abusing the young daughter of his girlfriend 14-16 years earlier.

People v. Lynch was a 1994 criminal case from California in which William Lynch was “[c]harged with 14 counts of lewd conduct with a child stemming from alleged attacks on four women when they were between 7 and 13 years old from March, 1967 to July, 1972.”

Pfiefle v. Hustwaite was a 1991 civil suit from Washington in which the plaintiff, a 31-year-old woman, alleged that when she was a grade school student at Sky Valley Seventh Day Adventist School between 1969 and 1976 she was repeatedly raped and molested by a teacher.

A 1995 criminal case was filed in Canada based upon Kelly Scaglione’s recovered memories of a sexual assault by Master Cpl. Harold MacLean of the Canadian Armed forces.

R v. Thomas Bowman was a 2002 criminal case from the UK in which Thomas Bowman was convicted for the murder of his wife, Mary Bowman, more than 20 years earlier.

R v. Warren was a 1995 criminal case in Canada in which Robert Warren pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges for his abuse of Chris White, whose repressed memories of sexual abuse at Ryerson Public School 20 years ago.

R v. Francois was a 1994 criminal case from Canada in which Francois was convicted on charges of rape based upon a female victim's recovered memories of being raped as many as 20 times by her neighbor in childhood, Lorne Francois.

Rhode Island v. Desrosiers was a 1994 criminal case in which Rev. Alfred R. Desrosiers was indicted on charges of rape in response to Cynthia Lewis’ memories of child sexual abuse which allegedly occured in 1972 while he was assigned to St. Joan of Arc Chuch.

Shahzade v. Gregory was a 1996 civil suit by Ann Shahzade against an older cousin for molesting her for a five-year period beginning when she was 11 years old.

State of Rhode Island v. Anthony Rubino was a 1995 criminal case in which Rubino was convicted on one count of indecent assault of a child and two counts of rape based on a 28-year-old woman’s flashbacks of repeated rape by her stepfather during the 1970s.

State v. Quattrocchi (1994) was the first criminal case in Rhode Island involving recovered memory.

Oklahoma v. Warner was a 1998 criminal case in which Warner was convicted for first-degree rape and for first-degree rape by instrumentation.

State v. Wilson was a 1990 criminal suit from Polk County, Iowa, in which Thomas Dean Wilson was convicted for incest and third-degree sexual abuse of his daughter.

Texas v. Ward was a late 1990s (1998/9) criminal case in which Kenneth Eugene Ward please guilty to indecency with a child.

Thomas v. Freeman was a 1995 civil case from North Carolina which resulted in a unanimous jury verdict for Shirley Thomas against her father, Velton Freeman.

VanVeldhuizen v. Netherlands Reformed Church of Rock Valley was a 1997 civil case from Iowa in which Peter VanVeldhuizen sued on account of recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated from 1966 to 1968 by Reverend J. Van Zweden of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation Church.

Virginia v. Rogers was a 2001 case from Fairfax County, Virginia in which James A. Rogers was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $20,000 in damages after admitting to sexually assaulting three girls in 1964, two of whom recovered memories of the abuse 35 years later.

Wilson v. Phillips was a case from California that reached a verdict in 1996 in which LaDonna Wilson and her half-sister (who does not want to be identified) sued John Phillips for sexual molestation that occurred when each daughter was about 5 years old.