Settlement in Scout abuse case with C.O. ties

The Boy Scouts and a former Scout from Eugene have settled a lawsuit involving Ed Dyer, the former Scoutmaster who was shot dead in Redmond more than 25 years ago by a Sisters teenager he molested.

Attorney Stephen Crew brought the case on behalf of a man who said he was victimized by Dyer in the mid-1960s. He told The Register-Guard (http://is.gd/azxoKY) the case was settled through mediation, and both sides agreed not to reveal terms of the settlement. His client had sought $5.25 million.

“The victim is satisfied,” Crew said.

Identified in the suit by the initials F.D., the former Scout claimed that the organization should pay damages for failing to protect him from Dyer, who admitted to abusing as many as 15 boys during a 28-year span, including the time when F.D. was in a troop sponsored by parents at Adams Elementary School in Eugene.

Dyer later moved to Central Oregon, and in 1985 he was convicted of molesting two teenage boys and was sentenced to 20 days in jail. A few months later, one of those boys, Louis Conner, then 17, went to Dyer’s home in Redmond and shot him at close range with a sawed-off shotgun.

The lawsuit filed in 2011 claimed that F.D. suffered severe mental, physical and emotional damage because of the abuse. Although some 47 years had passed since that abuse, the suit claimed F.D. had only recently discovered that the Boy Scouts allegedly knew about Dyer’s molesting and had failed to take steps to stop it.

The law allows victims who are age 40 or older to bring abuse suits within five years of realizing a connection between past abuse and their existing physical or emotional injury.

Attorneys for the Boy Scouts contended time had run out on the claim because the victim had known for many years that the harm was caused by a Scoutmaster who was sanctioned by the Boy Scouts.

That issue was still before the court when the settlement was reached.

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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com