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A man under indictment for child abuse has sued both the parents of the alleged victim and the day camp where he worked. He claims that the camp injured his reputation by sending 1500 emails to parents, notifying them of the charges against him. A spokesman for the camp said that he had spoken to parents of children who had come in contact with the counselor, and sent an email to the rest of the parents in response to rumors.
He said, "It was an e-mail that went out to our clientele and it stated very clearly that it was an accusation. There was no added information."
If the email was as limited as the spokesman claims, I cannot see any basis for the suit. I often counsel clients in similar situations to notify parents sooner rather than later. The camp's primary obligation is to its campers, and parents, particularly those whose children might have had contact with the accused counselor, have a right to know about any accusations. The notification, of course, needs to be limited to the simple facts that an allegation has been made, that the counselor has been suspended or otherwise isolated from contact with the camp's children, and that the camp is cooperating with authorities. Any editorializing or speculation definitely will get you into trouble.
Even if the camp ultimately prevails in this suit, defending it will take a lot of energy and money. Let's hope it has a good liability policy that covers this sort of claim.
You never want an article about your day care center to begin, ""Twenty-one children and one adult have contracted E. coli." You particularly don't want it to note that the outbreak was "linked to a lack of handwashing."
