Abuse case changes lives — and the law.
In 1994, a 33 year-old man walked into Kelly Clark’s office and told of his abuse as a boy at the hands of a Catholic priest. Seven years later, on the morning of the trial in 2001 — following litigation at the Multnomah County Circuit Court, the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court — the Archdiocese of Portland finally paid the man a fair settlement. Along the way, Kelly and the entire OCC team changed the law governing child abuse cases through a 1999 win at the Supreme Court. This opened the door for hundreds of abuse survivors to seek justice in court from those who abused them, and the institutions that sheltered the abusers.