A Rockwood family filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday alleging that an adult leader in a local Boy Scouts of America troop used his position to groom and sexually abuse a minor, and that the Boy Scouts and its Michigan affiliate failed to enforce basic safeguards designed to prevent abuse.
The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court by Flood Law and Lipton Law, alleges the abuse occurred while the child, who was under the age of 14 at the time, was participating in Boy Scouts Troop 508. The suit names Boy Scouts of America, the Michigan Crossroads Council, and John Steven Sorovetz, who is accused of abusing the child while serving as an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 508.
Sorovetz has not been charged but is under a criminal investigation, according to Flood Law.
The suit alleges Sorovetz was able to “employ well-recognized grooming techniques and abuse the trust and power inherent in his positions to harass and attempt to sexually abuse Plaintiff,” while the child was participating in troop activities.
The lawsuit alleges a pattern of grooming behavior that escalated over time, including unwanted physical contact, sexually explicit conversations, and exposure to pornographic material. The complaint states that Sorovetz used one-on-one access to isolate the child and normalize inappropriate behavior.
Todd Flood, founder and managing partner of Flood Law, and Marc Lipton, managing partner of Lipton Law, said the case reflects a broader failure by the organization to protect children.
“This case is about a betrayal of trust,” Flood and Lipton said in a statement. “It’s about a youth organization failing to enforce the safeguards it promised to families. The Boy Scouts of America knew the danger. They wrote rules to protect children like our client. And then they failed to follow them. A child paid the price for that failure.”
The complaint alleges that Boy Scouts of America and the Michigan Crossroads Council failed to properly supervise, train, and monitor adult leaders and did not enforce long-standing youth protection policies, including rules prohibiting one-on-one contact between adults and youth.ged but is under a criminal investigation, according to Flood Law.
