Northwest Yearly Meeting Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit Awaits Trial Date

By Seth Gordon
Newberg Graphic
February 17, 2016

http://pamplinmedia.com/nbg/142-news/293655-171090-northwest-yearly-meeting-child-sex-abuse-lawsuit-awaits-trial-date

Case currently proceeding through discovery; trial readiness hearing not expected until spring

Although a trial date is not expected until this summer at the earliest, work on the child sex abuse lawsuit filed last year against Newberg Friends Church and the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends is well under way.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, referred to by his initials “A.J.” in the suit filed in Multnomah County in July, and for the five defendants are in the process of discovery.

There are no pending court dates, but Adam Kiel, an attorney with Portland firm Kafoury & McDougal representing A.J. in the case, said he expects a trial readiness conference, typically when a trial date will be set, to occur sometime in the spring.

Five of the defendants have retained counsel and filed answers to the charges, while a sixth, the Evangelical Friends Church of North America, was dismissed by Presiding Judge Nan Walker on Dec. 18.

Four of the defendants — Newberg Friends Church, the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church, the Friends Church Extension Fund and the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Foundation — have retained Portland attorney Karen Vickers. The fifth, the Evangelical Friends Church International Council, has hired Portland attorney Jay Chock.