Levy Konigsberg and Co-Counsel File Claims on Behalf of Over 60 Survivors Alleging Sex Abuse at Pennsylvania Juvenile Detention and Residential Treatment Centers

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Oct 23, 2024, 12:28 ET

Levy Konigsberg and co-counsel have filed lawsuits on behalf of over 60 men and women who suffered sexual abuse when they were confined as children across more than a dozen juvenile detention and residential treatment facilities in Pennsylvania.

NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Levy Konigsberg and co-counsel have filed dozens of lawsuits today on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, alleging that juvenile detention and residential treatment facilities across Pennsylvania failed to protect the vulnerable children in their care. The lawsuits, brought on behalf of over 60 men and women who were abused as children at a range of public and private facilities, is the latest in a string of sexual abuse lawsuits spearheaded by Levy Konigsberg in Pennsylvania and across the country. Levy Konigberg has now filed more than 200 cases in the past five months on behalf of men and women who suffered childhood sexual abuse at juvenile detention and residential treatment centers in Pennsylvania.

The lawsuits cover a wide range of youth detention and treatment facilities, including several run by Universal Health Services (UHS), a major behavioral healthcare provider with over 400 locations nationwide. UHS was one of four such companies recently investigated by the U.S. Senate, culminating in the June 2024 report, Warehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers Are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities. The Senate report identified numerous abuses at UHS facilities, concluding that "suffering" and "trauma" were endemic to the company's profit-driven business model.

The juvenile detention and residential treatment centers covered in the lawsuits filed today include:

Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital, Foundations Behavioral Health, Fairmount Behavioral Health System, The Horsham Clinic, and The Meadows (all run by Universal Health Services)
Loysville Youth Development Center, North Central Secure Treatment Unit, and South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit (all run by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)
Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center
Carson Valley Children's Aid
Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health
Northwestern Academy
Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center
St. Gabriel's Hall
VisionQuest

The men and women who filed claims today include those who suffered sexual abuse as far back as the early 2000s and as recently as 2023. Despite the decades separating their experiences, these dozens of survivors experienced disturbingly similar patterns of abuse across the various facilities, evidencing systemic failures at these institutions in protecting children from harm.

Unfortunately, current law in Pennsylvania bars individuals who were born prior to November 26, 1989 from bringing claims for childhood sexual abuse. As a result, untold numbers of survivors who were abused in earlier decades continue to suffer in silence.

In announcing today's lawsuit filed on behalf of over 60 men and women, Levy Konigsberg Partner Jerome Block stated:

"Over 200 men and women sexually abused at juvenile detention and residential treatment centers in Pennsylvania have now come forward and exposed this institutional sexual abuse. It is outrageous that the perpetrators in these cases are the very adult staff members that were entrusted with keeping our clients safe. Our clients have courageously stepped forward to seek justice and accountability. Unfortunately, there are many survivors who suffered similar childhood sexual abuse in earlier decades who are unable to join these lawsuits because Pennsylvania lawmakers have not passed a Child Victims Act into law."

Levy Konigsberg has filed hundreds of lawsuits on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse nationwide, and is at the forefront of litigation regarding abuse juvenile detention and residential treatment facilities, having filed some of the first lawsuits about the widespread sexual abuse at such facilities in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. National news outlets, including The Associated Press, The New York Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer have covered Levy Konigsberg's recent lawsuits on behalf of hundreds of men and women who had been sexually abused as children at these facilities. Interested parties can read some of these articles here, here, here, and here.

Levy Konigsberg represents hundreds of survivors of sexual abuse at Pennsylvania's juvenile detention and residential treatment facilities and plans to continue fighting tirelessly on their behalf.

For additional information about childhood sexual abuse lawsuits spearheaded by Levy Konigsberg, media members and journalists are encouraged to reach out to Attorney Jerome Block by using the law firm's contact form: https://www.levylaw.com/contact-us/

Media Contact:
Erica Helcher
[email protected]

SOURCE Levy Konigsberg