PORTLAND, USA - A lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks more than $120 million from the Mormon church for 12 victims it says were molested as children by a church elder in the 1970s and '80s.
The lawsuit also said the plaintiffs may seek punitive damages of up to $1 billion each for alleged abuse by the late church elder Franklin Curtis.
Curtis was convicted of repeatedly abusing Jeremiah Scott 11 years ago. Scott, now 22, settled a case against the church last year for $3 million.
The lawsuit claims that two plaintiffs, identified only as BB and SR, told their bishop Curtis had molested them and the bishop ``responded by humiliating and shaming BB and SR and blaming them for the abuse.''
The church denied responsibility for Curtis' alleged conduct.
``Mr. Curtis was never more than a member of the church,'' said Steve English, an attorney who handles the church's legal matters in Oregon. ``He was never a member of the clergy and he never held any other position of leadership.''
The Mormon church has a collective clergy, in which many older men in the congregation are designated as high priests. Church attorney Von Keetch said the title carries no particular leadership responsibility.