Guest Post: Rep Hong Ushers in New Law Voiding NDA’s in Child Abuse Cases
Justin Wright is a long time member of the Peach Pundit Community. He is an ordained minister and three term city council member in Centerville, GA. Follow on Twitter: @JustinWrightGA
It seems at times that daily we read new reports of some trusted adult being accused, convicted, or sentenced for sexually abusing a child they were trusted to care for. It is a profoundly sad reality that at least 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 20 boys in the United States will experience child sexual abuse, and those are just the cases that are reported. The State of Georgia took another positive step today towards giving victims a voice and continuing the fight to keep our children free from harm.
Trey Carlock grew up in an affluent home in a Dallas suburb. He excelled in both athletics and academics. While attending summer camps that were part of a network of camps that spanned from Southern Missouri to Southeast Texas, he was systematically groomed and sexually abused by a leader at the camp. The leader subsequently plead guilty to abusing Trey and numerous others. The camps settled financially with family, with an agreement that included a non-disclosure clause that restricted Trey’s and the family’s ability to discuss the matter publicly or face reprisals. Trey once told a therapist, “they will always control me, and I’ll never be free. 2 ” After a lifetime of struggling to overcome the trauma that he experienced, Trey took his own life in 2019.
In the corporate world nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) are used to protect proprietary trade secrets, customer lists, intellectual property, negotiation strategy, etc. Similar language is sometimes included in “non disparagement” sections of divorce settlements. Unfortunately, they are also frequently part of settlement agreements that relate to abuse. They have been included in settlements reached between victims and church organizations, the Boy Scouts of America, schools and colleges, as well as corporations protecting their employees and their brand. Whether NDAs of this nature are truly enforceable seems to be a bit murky, at least, until today.
Georgia joined California, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, and Alabama in adopting what has come to be known as “Trey’s Law” (HB 1187). The bill was sponsored by Representative Soo Hong, and Governor Kemp recently signed it into law. Georgia’s version, adds language to the OCGA that:
Prohibit[s] as contrary to the public policy of this state any contract or agreement that has the purpose or effect of concealing the details relating to a claim of childhood sexual abuse; to provide for the confidentiality of identifying information of victims of childhood sexual abuse;
Currently, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas have a version of the bill pending in their statehouses. The one leading the charge to pass this law is not a legislator or a church leader; it is Trey’s sister, Elizabeth Carlock Phillips. She writes:
My brother called his settlement dollars “blood money,” as if he had sold his soul to keep [the camp’s] secrets. He just wanted to end the trauma, move on, hopefully heal, and have the cost of treatment covered…‘Trey’s Law’ [is] the least we can do as responsible adults and citizens.
The codification of “Trey’s Law” is significant, not only because it removes any murkiness around the enforceability of such agreements, but also because it sends a message to abuse victims that, in the State of Georgia, they are free to make their voices heard. This is excellent work by Legislature and by Governor Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp, who made the bill a priority last session. This marks another win for the first lady, who has long made child abuse and trafficking a priority for her office. We will be tabulating her legacy in the lives of Georgia children for years to come.
