Connecticut defendants linked to a sex abuse scandal involving a Haitian orphanage and school have not fared well in court. Douglas Perlitz, who ran Project Pierre Toussaint, is serving a prison sentence of nearly 20 years. Fairfield University and its former chaplain, the Rev. Paul Carrier, who raised money for Perlitz’s organization, were parties to a $12 million settlement reached in 2013 after attorneys filed suit on behalf of the abused boys.
But now Fairfield and Carrier have won a preliminary legal victory in the latest round of lawsuits brought by Perlitz’s alleged victims. A Connecticut federal judge said that they cannot be held liable under a civil sex-trafficking law because Perlitz’s sexual activities all took place outside the U.S. Because the federal statute at issue had no extraterritorial application at the time of Perlitz’s illegal activities, exactly where the abuse took place is an important detail, wrote U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny. “In other words,” he wrote, the statute “imposed liability only if the trafficking activity occurred in the United States.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
