$7.5 Million Verdict for Man Abused at YMCA Camp Seymour as a Child

YMCA Camp Seymour opened on the Key Peninsula south of Gig Harbor in 1907. For decades it operated as a summer retreat for children. Beginning in the summer of 1976, the plaintiff, identified in court records as T.B., was sexually abused there repeatedly by two camp counselors, Ken Baines and Randy Tollefson. T.B. was eight years old when the abuse started. It continued until 1979, spanning the years he was between second and sixth grade.

Tollefson was later convicted of sex crimes against children in Pierce and King Counties. He served 16 years in prison before being transferred to Washington's facility for sexually violent predators on McNeil Island. Despite that criminal record and the scope of the abuse within its own program, the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties did not face civil accountability for T.B.'s injuries for nearly half a century.

At trial in early 2024, the YMCA admitted it was legally responsible for the abuse. The organization did not contest that the harm had occurred inside its camp under its supervision. It challenged instead the nature and extent of the damages T.B. had suffered across his lifetime as a result.

The jury disagreed with that framing. On March 13, 2024, the panel returned a verdict of $7.5 million for T.B. T.B. was represented by Michael Pfau and Steven Reich of Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC, along with Peter Janci of Crew Janci LLP. The YMCA, for its part, stated after the verdict that it has since put criminal background checks and national sex offender registry screening in place for all staff.

No appeal or post-verdict reduction has been reported as of the date of this writing. T.B. was 56 years old at the time of the verdict.