A man from Fort Dodge is hoping today’s the day the Iowa House passes a bill to ensure he gets the entire payment he’s due from a legal settlement.
Joe Gargano is one of dozens of Iowa men who’ve alleged they were abused as children by Boy Scout leaders. There’s a national fund to pay thousands of victims, but Iowa has a time limit on suing perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse. An attorney familiar with the payment process says if the Iowa House doesn’t pass a bill today (Friday) to waive that deadline, Gargano and up to 350 other Iowans will get a fraction of what they’re owed.
“I know what it did to me. It devastated my life into a world of self medication for years and years,” Gargano said. “It’s over 20 years now and by the grace of God…that’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m fighting right now.”
The Iowa Senate passed a bill to ensure Gargano and other former Boy Scouts in Iowa owed settlements get the entire payment. The bill had stalled in the House, but it’s scheduled for review in a House committee at 8:30 this morning The bill has to pass the committee before it could be brought up for a vote in the full House.
“There’s a lot of people out there this is going to affect,” Gargano said, “and it’s the right thing to do.”
The senator who sponsored the bill says it’s narrowly written and only applied to former Scouts due these payments. Iowa law says victims of child sex abuse must file lawsuits seeking civil damages by the age of 19 — or within four years realizing they were victims of sex abuse as a child.
(By Brooke Bickford, KVFD, Fort Dodge)