Case filed against Cherry Creek Schools under newly enacted Child Sex Abuse Accountability Act

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Denver,  Colorado.  Colorado’s Top Personal Injury Law Firm® trial lawyer James Avery has filed a civil cause of action for sexual misconduct against a minor under the newly enacted Colorado law (SB021-088, CRS 13-20-1202) governing Sexual Misconduct Against Minors in Arapahoe County District Court-Centennial, Colorado (Case No. 2022cv30137) on behalf of Cydny Norris (a former student at Smoky Hill (Aurora, CO) High School) againstCherry Creek School District and Perry Weisman, Sandy Smith, and Anton Durall Kaempfer  (all former Smoky Hill High School counselors or teachers).

Plaintiff Cydny Norris, age 59, claims that she was groomed beginning in 1975 at Campus Middle School, age 12 and sexually abused as a minor (ages 14-17) for years (1977 to 1980) by Defendant Anton Durall Kaempfer, age 31, a person in a position of trust as her guidance counselor, at Cherry Creek Schools' Smoky Hill High School.  Kaempfer, an adult, now age 77, was not reported and not charged at the time of the offense, although Norris alleges other counselors and teachers were aware of the misconduct.  Norris complained to law enforcement in 2015 and Boulder Sheriff Office refused to take a complaint.  Norris has never been informed of any investigation by Cherry Creek School District, although she believes the misconduct was reported to the School District by a whistle blower in 1993.

The newly enacted law (SB021-088), effective Jan 1, 2022, creates a new cause of action effectively setting aside time limits in cases going back to 1960. Victims have 3 years (until Jan. 1, 2025) to file previously time barred claims the new law.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.  Damages under the new law, C.R.S. 13-20-1201, are capped at Five Hundred Thousand or One Million Dollars depending on the facts of the case. 

Denver trial lawyer James Avery comment on the new law:  "This is an unprecedented opportunity for justice where it is truly needed.  I have turned away dozens of clients who were sexually abused as children but who didn't come forward in time to file a case.  This new law gives them a remedy, albeit a limited one.  These victims invariably suffer for a lifetime and the abuse effects their families, their jobs, their social relationships, virtually every aspect of their lives.  To have this new tool in the arsenal to help them is a big step forward for society at large.   For the defendants in these heinous cases, its a day of reckoning." This is the fifth case filed by Avery under the new law. [end]