At this point, it was becoming clear to me that the only way to proceed was to bring forward either another victim or one of the perpetrators. However, doing so would require some measure of publicity. If any of the other victims were going to come forward, I had to contact them and tell them about the crime. And if I was going to find one of the perpetrators, I had to scour public records, which meant telling public officials about the crime. Both prospects appeared extremely difficult for me. As an alternative, in the following letter, Mr. Hardoon proposed private mediation to the Boys Club, which they would refuse.
October 15, 1997
Dear Attorney Malone:
I have resumed my representation of Mr. Chester in connection with his claim for psychological damage against the Boys and Girls Club. One of the individuals that Mr. Chester alleges was responsible for his damage is [name of alleged assailant redacted]. Mr. Chester has identified [name of alleged assailant redacted] from his memory and an old photograph that he obtained from the time period in which he attended camp in July 1963.
Mr. Chester has contacted [name of alleged assailant redacted] who has denied committing the acts that Mr. Chester alleges occurred. [name of alleged assailant redacted] further denies having any role whatsoever with the younger campers to which Mr. Chester belonged. As you may recall, Mr. Chester believes that at least one of the two individuals that perpetrated the harm on him had some sanctioned counselor role with his group. [name of alleged assailant redacted] has indicated that other teenage Club members worked in the camp but that he did not and that he had no contact with Mr. Chester.
My client believes his photographic identification is sound. I believe it will not be difficult to establish whether [name of alleged assailant] did or did not have a “counselor” role with the campers. If he did, then his blanket denial will support my client’s identification. If he did not then my client must consider the possibility that he has identified the wrong individual.
In either case Mr. Chester is absolutely committed to establishing the truth of what happened to him. He has already located approximately 2/3’s of the campers from 1963 and will no doubt locate what others he can. I have indicated to Mr. Chester that he will need to locate a camper who can corroborate the events of 1963. He is ready to begin doing so immediately. He has contacted no one, except [name of alleged assailant], up until now.
Although he never recalled or revealed the full extent of what he says occurred to him at camp until recently, he did reveal some details of the incident to a psychiatrist approximately fifteen years ago. This psychiatrist, currently on the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital, has confirmed her recollection of Mr. Chester’s partial disclosure at that time. This tends to corroborate his memory of the event in some respects.
The purpose of this letter is to inquire whether your client is interested in mediating Mr. Chester’s claim before he begins his next round of investigation. I propose this for your consideration only because my client’s primary concern, as he has expressed it to me many times, is to proceed with a specific program of recovery that he is anxious to pursue. He has allocated two years to this recovery program and he cannot afford to proceed with it at the present time.
Whether [name of alleged assailant] was the counselor involved or whether it proves to be some other person who was the counselor, the potential exposure of the Boys and Girls Club remains the same. I am convinced that if the corroboration exists, Mr. Chester will find it. The only question will be how long it takes and how much controversy it will generate. Neither of which, time or controversy, is in my client’s best interest.
If the Boys and Girls Club is willing to make a serious effort to mediate this with my client, he will cooperate fully. What he will not do is wait much longer to continue his search to prove the truth of what he says was done to him.
Insofar as we have not had any communication since before the summer, please let me know how long you will need to discuss this with your client. I am sure I can prevail upon Mr. Chester to wait a reasonable amount of time before he proceeds.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Very truly yours,
[signed]
Laurence E. Hardoon