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Purpose; Academic and Clinical Studies
Background
History of this project
The Archive
101 corroborated cases of recovered memory
Response to Critics
Dr. August Piper (1999)
Dr. Richard McNally (2003)
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Bibliographies, links
to websites by four
doctoral-level
psychologists
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For those with personal
questions & concerns
about sexual abuse &
those interested in
political & social
responses to sexual
abuse
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The Archive > 43
Cases from Legal Proceedings
All of the cases in this file involve claims in legal proceedings.
Some cases are criminal, some are civil, and a few are administrative
or involve an estate. The criminal cases all resulted in either
a guilty verdict or a guilty plea. The civil cases all resulted
in either a civil judgment or a civil settlement. The cases
included pre-trial discovery on the facts, and often full-blown
adjudication. In short, the corroboration in these cases has
been scrutinized and in many cases verified through a legal
proceeding.
1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30
| 31-40 | 41-End
1. K.B.'s recovered memories of child sexual abuse
by a neighbor and close family friend. K.B. v. Mathes (U.S.
District Court, Eastern District of Washington). Filed in
1982 (Docket No. C-82-56), decided January 5, 1984 by Judge
Justin L. Quackenbush. Judgment for the plaintiff; no appeal
by defendant.
"K.B.'s testimony is confirmed to some extent by her
sister Lisa's testimony. Then we have what I call the age
fourteen alcohol incident...the incident when K. arrived
home in an intoxicated state. (oral decision, filed January
11, 1984, p. 2). "Then we have Mr. Mathe's own testimony
that the only statement he made to Mrs. B was that ‘I
wish it hadn't happened.'" (Id. at p.4) [Additional evidence
of financial payments by Mr. Mathes as indicating "some
scienter or guilty knowledge on the part of Mr. Mathes"
on p. 5] Finally, "based on the evidence presented in
this case...I find that K.B. completely repressed her recollections
of the defendant's wrongful conduct from the time of her high
school years when she was obviously a minor until she began
seeking counseling for her depression and anxiety in late
1979. (Id. at p.9) "I further find that it was not until
at least April of 1981 that Ms. B. was able to fully recall
the acts of misconduct by the defendant." (Id. at p.10)
2. Delaney Nickerson's memories of child sexual abuse
by her father. The memories first surfaced while Ms. Nickerson
was hospitalized in 1984. Ms. Nickerson filed a criminal complaint
several years later and Mr. Smith was charged. He later pled
guilt, being placed on lifetime parole and ordered by the
court to have no further contact with his daughter. Commonwealth
v. Landon Carter Smith (felony criminal case: Peterburg Virginia,
1990).
3. Meiers-Post v. Schafer (Michigan Court of Appeals,
1988) A civil suit by Jan Meiers-Post against her former high-school
teacher for sexual abuse from 1970 to 1974. "We hold
that the period of limitation is tolled where the child victim
of an illicit sexual relationship psychologically represses
the memory of the events and where, after the memory is revived
there is corroboration that the events actually occurred.."
"In his deposition, defendant admitted to having sexual
intercourse with plaintiff, at various times, from 1972 to
1974." 427 N.W. 2d 606, 607.
4. State v. Wilson (Polk County, Iowa; August, 1990).
Criminal conviction of Thomas Dean Wilson for incest and third-degree
sexual abuse of his daughter. "The trauma was so great
that she was unable to remember for eight years—and then
only after months of therapy." (Marie McCartan, "'Daddy
Hurts Me'... The Horror of Incest," Des Moines Register,
February 17, 1991: 1E). The corroborating evidence uncovered
through discovery included 'inappropriate advances' made by
the defendant toward another minor in his role has a church
chaperon, and a former teen-age babysitter for the family
who had repeated sexual relations with the defendant. There
was additional corroboration from M's childhood medical records.
Twelve jurors found Tom Wilson guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt. Id.
5. Nicolette v. Carey (Federal District Court, Western
District of Michigan, 1990 judicial decision). Civil action
by Suzanne Nicolette against her father, Joseph Carey for
child sexual abuse first remembered in adulthood. In denying
the defendant's motion to dismiss the case, Judge Benjamin
F. Gibson noted that "plaintiff has submitted a letter
addressed to plaintiff, signed by defendant and dated April
19, 1987, in which defendant discussed three or four incidents
of sexual contact he had with the plaintiff when she was a
child." See, Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 5. Opinion dated
November 19, 1990; District Court File No. 1:90-CV-159.
6. Pfiefle v. Hustwaite (King County Superior Court,
Washington; civil settlement, 1991). 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. She recovered
the memory as an adult. "Discovery revealed several other
victims, whose testimony was helpful in establishing that
the Seventh Day Adventist should have known of the teacher's
propensities." Shepard's/McGraw-Hill, Verdicts, Settlements & Tactics (1991)
7. D's recovered memory (in 1991) of sexual abuse by
her father, Stanley Huntingford, 20-34 years earlier. As summarized
by Justice Thackray: "Mr. Huntingford was convicted by
a jury on six counts of what is now generally called sexual
assault. The charges were brought by three of his five children.
Of the three, two had continuous memories of the abuse while
the third, D., recovered her memory 34 years after the first
assault." Her Majesty the Queen v. Stanley Charles Huntingford
(Supreme Court of British Columbia)(Vancouver Registry No.
CC940539).
"The first woman [with continuous memory] said that her
father regularly raped her, but stopped when she was 14 because
she screamed when he came into her bedroom. She said she told
her mother about the incidents in 1981...The accused's
wife, who testified for the defense, told the jury she never
confronted her husband when the first daughter told her in
1981 about the abuse." Larry Still, "Father, 73,
convicted of incest," Vancouver Sun (February 4, 1995:
A6).
As Justice Thackray explained at sentencing, on March 28,
1995: "The Crown retained the services of Dr. John Yuille.
Dr. Yuille is a psychologist and a leading expert in retention
and recovery of memory. He also has impressive credentials
in the area of sexual abuse. Dr. Yuille interviewed D.
and prepared a report.... Dr. Yuille therefore gave oral
evidence in which he, in my opinion, fairly set forth the
opinions of the two opposing camps. Dr. Yuille did not
in any way demean the opinion of Dr. Loftus or the opinions
of others with whom he parts company on the subject. Rather,
he showed an objectivity that allowed both the Crown and
the defence to rely upon his evidence and recommend it
to the jury." Id.
8. Hewczuk v. Sambor ( Civil
Action No. 91-6562, Federal District Court, Eastern District
of Pennsylvania). "Hewczuk
attorney Nancy Wasser said her client experienced vivid memories
of the alleged torture after she miscarried two years ago...records
from Catholic Charities and hospitals helped corroborate
her client's recollections." (Lisa Brennan, "Abuse Victim
Gets $600,000 32 Years Later; Remembered Event Two years
Ago,"
Legal Intelligencer, November 6, 1992. See also, Lisa Brennan,
"Judge Upholds $600,000 Award in Abuse Case; Memory Suppressed
for 32 years," Legal Intelligencer, February 26, 1993:
1)
In response to post-trial motions, the judge affirmed the
verdict, summarizing the evidence and findings as follows: "Viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the
verdict-winner, the trial evidence established that, while
in defendants' foster case for a brief period in early 1960,
plaintiff was horribly mistreated (forced to eat her own vomit
and drink her own urine; smeared with fecal matter and forced
to eat it; bathed in extremely hot water; nearly drowned when
her face was held under water in a toilet bowl; and, on at
least one occasion, sexually assaulted); and that her memory
of these atrocities was totally suppressed for many years.
It is also clear that she regained her memory of these events,
more or less fully, by June of 1991, and that she had begun
to have 'flashbacks' and partial awareness of the earlier
trauma in the summer of 1990." Memorandum and Order,
pp. 1-2; Hewczuk v. Sambor, C.A. 91-6562 (February 18, 1993).
9. Leonard v. Estate of Cowles. (Hillsborough Circuit
Court, 1993). Frank Leonard's recollection, in therapy, of
childhood abuse by his uncle, Tampa publishing executive
Frank Cowles, Jr. "Records were produced showing that Cowles
had been convicted in 1959 of sexually abusing young boys
in Clearwater...According to the lawsuit, Leonard's uncle
admitted the abuse and then killed himself. Leonard won
a settlement from the estate." St. Petersburg Times, March
6, 1994. See also, "Abuse lawsuit target's uncle's estate," St.
Petersburg Times, April 14, 1993: 1B
10. Herald v. Hood (Summit County, Ohio, jury verdict,
1992; affirmed 1995). Julie Herald sued her uncle, Dennis
Hood, alleging sexual abuse from age 3 (in 1962) through
15. The memory returned while Herald was watching her 4-year
old daughter play with a friend. Herald presented a taped
telephone conversation in which her uncle indicated that
she "had been the only one." Two therapists also testified
that at a meeting with Herald in their offices, he admitted
sexually abusing her. She was awarded $150,000 in compensatory
damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The Ohio Supreme
Court recently upheld the decision. (Reginald Fields, "Witness
Says She Felt Confusion and Guilt; Memory of Sex Abuse Comes
Back by Observing Daughter, Court is Told," Akron Beacon
Journal, July 25, 1992: C1.)
• Dennis Hood's testimony verifying
(a) that knew the subject matter of Julie Herald's phone call, and (b) that his
voice and Julie Herald's are the ones on the tape.
• Complete transcript of the telephone
call in which Dennis Hood acknowledges abusing Julie Herald .
• Dr. Devies's testimony on
the confrontation between Julie Herald and Dennis Hood in his office.
• Ms. Kepler-Didato's testimony about
the same meeting, including the events immediately thereafter.
read more cases > 1-10 | 11-20
| 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-End
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Page last updated
July, 2003
Project Director
Professor Ross E. Cheit
Taubman Center for Public Policy & American Institutions
at Brown University
67 George Street
Box 1977
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2201
Fax: 401-863-2452
 
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