A once well-known hockey coach at New Jersey’s Paramus Catholic High School has been named as a defendant in two lawsuits filed by former student-athletes who say they were sexually abused decades ago.
The late Bernard Garris is named in the pair of civil complaints filed in New Jersey Superior Court on Aug. 6. In both suits, Garris is accused of sexual misconduct with the plaintiffs in the 1980s.
Paramus Catholic High School, the Archdiocese of Newarkand the New Jersey Catholic Conference are also defendants in the lawsuits and are accused of being aware that “Garris had sexually inappropriate and/or sexually abusive relationships with many minor children,” but doing nothing to put a stop to it, Patch.com reported.
Former Students Describe Sexual Abuse
One of the alleged victims says Garris abused him multiple times between 1985 and 1986, when the man was between 14 and 15 years old. The civil suit claims the abuse took place on Paramus Catholic’s grounds and during school-sanctioned athletic trips.
The second plaintiff claims he was also 14 when Garris in 1986 allegedly began sexually assaulting him at Paramus Catholic and during travel for athletic events. The alleged abuse reportedly continued for two years.
Neither of the former students is identified in court papers. Both are referred to as John Does.
Garris was fired sometime around 1987, according to the lawsuits, for physically abusing students. He died in 2016.
Both plaintiffs insist that school and church officials were aware of credible sexual abuse allegations involving “many minor children,” including them. “By 1986, defendants had for many years concealed important information about credible allegations of abuse by Garris upon (Paramus Catholic) students,” Patch reported.
New Law Made Paramus Catholic Suits Possible
A recently enacted state law allowed the lawsuits against Paramus Catholic to be filed, despite the alleged abuse occurring three decades ago.
New Jersey lawmakers passed the Child Victim’s Act in May 2019, extending the amount of time for childhood sexual abuse survivors to file suit against their abusers. Before the legislation, sexual assault victims had only until age 20 or two years from the time they realized they were damaged by the abuse to do so. Now, survivors have until age 55, or seven years from the time the abuse is realized to have done harm.
The revised statute of limitations applies to all new cases, The National Law Review explains, but also includes an allowance for old cases.
Legislators tacked a two-year lookback period onto the bill, which allows abuse survivors to file lawsuits for claims that exceed the statute of limitations, or those that were previously dismissed for filing too late.
In July, New Jersey’s Child Victim’s Act was challenged in court by lawyers for another Catholic school defending itself against accusations of long-ago sexual abuse. In that case, attorneys for the DelBarton School in Morris County argued the look back allowance was unconstitutional. Superior Court Judge Paul Bogaard disagreed, effectively clearing the way for similar cases to be filed. A month later, six more lawsuits were filed against DelBarton claiming students there were sexually abused.
Lawyers throughout the state have said they expect dozens, if not hundreds, of sexual abuse lawsuits to be filed during the lookback period.
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