My name is Jeffrey Herman and I am an attorney who represents victims of sexual abuse who were abused by Yudi Kolko

My name is Jeffrey Herman and I am an attorney who represents victims of sexual abuse. I am representing victims who claim they were abused by Yidi Kolko. I am currently investigating these claims. If anyone has information about this case, please contact me via email at jherman@hermanlaw.com or via telephone at (305) 931-2200.

Posted by Attorney Jeff Herman to Un-Orthodox Jews at 2/17/2006 11:28:55 AM


By Daniel Lyons

Child sexual abuse litigation will probably not generate anything like the settlements for, say, asbestos claims ($54 billion to date). But, like asbestos litigation, it has the potential to snowball, with profits from early settlements financing the recruiting of an ever-widening ring of plaintiffs. Among the cases in this gold rush:

* In Florida, a lawyer who has filed numerous suits against Miami's Catholic archdiocese filed a class suit on behalf of up to 100,000 Native Americans who allegedly were mentally, physically and sexually abused in government-run boarding schools. Attorney Jeffrey M. Herman says the suit, filed in April in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., asserts that damages could run as high as $25 billion. Canada faces a similar claim from up to 18,000 Native Americans and estimates it will spend $1.2 billion (U.S.) to settle it.


More than 500 cases are pending against the Boston archdiocese, with at least a thousand more claims against Catholic dioceses nationwide. Some lawyers estimate as many as 20,000 people were molested by Catholic clergy in the U.S. in recent decades. And for every Catholic victim, Schiltz estimates even more may have been harmed by clergy of other faiths. These cases, moreover, MacLeish says, will prompt more victims of nonclergy abuse to come forward as people feel less stigmatized.

The lawyers help make that possible. In Los Angeles Raymond Boucher has 220 clients and is trying to form a class action. His Web site boasts a list of priests who have been convicted or accused of sexual abuse and a "secure victim form" that lets visitors click their way to a confidential complaint. Boucher's office also provides space to a "victim advocate," who has been contacting hundreds of possible victims, though Boucher insists this is for outreach, not for recruiting.

In Minnesota, attorney Jeffrey Anderson, with more than 700 past clergy cases and 250 pending, aims to use the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), arguing bishops conspired in a coverup. He also is trying to sue the Vatican, complete with a complaint he had translated into Latin.

Some of these cases are likely to bankrupt some Catholic dioceses, but this legal assault seeks even deeper pockets: big insurers. Put aside the pious talk about protecting kids, and the racket boils down to this: Plaintiff lawyers are going after old insurance policies written decades ago under entirely different circumstances. Boucher says he has found two insurers with big exposure in Los Angeles. Pacific Indemnity, a subsidiary of Chubb Group, wrote policies from the early 1950s to 1967 and could be on the hook for several hundred million, Boucher says. Chubb says any effect won't be material. Allianz Insurance Co., a U.S. subsidiary of Munich-based Allianz Group, wrote policies from 1979 to 1986 and could be responsible for more than $20 billion, Boucher insists. Allianz calls this estimate "grossly off-base."


The Non-Announcement-Announcement

The deadline has passed, Yudi Kolko has not been put on leave.

Out of deference and respect to my friends who asked me to wait twenty four hours, because "they were certain that Margulies was in agreement to have a full hearing in front of prominent attorneys and rabbonim," I waited until 11 a.m. on Friday.

I was hell-bent certain that this was a trick; I tried to explain to my friends that Margulies was stalling for time, to regroup, and figure out a way to strike back and impede our efforts to rid Yudi Kolko from the presence of children. Ultimately, Margulies is more concerned about himself and his liability of harboring a vicious child molester willingly and knowingly for more than thirty years. He could care less about the safety of your children; for this he will lose his so called yeshiva. Nevertheless they pleaded with me to wait until Friday, I did.

I was right again, it was a trick!

I pulled the trigger; I did everything I said I would, and much, much more.

Jeffrey Herman Esq. is representing the victims. To the hundreds of victims of Margulies/Tora Temima/Kolko....you are invited to contact Mr. Herman and participate in the litigation. Mr. Herman's credentials speaks for themselves...he is an expert in this field, and has successfully battled and collected huge awards for his clients. He is afraid of nobody; no one is out of the reach of the law no matter what the color or style of clothing they cloak themselves in. He is a trailblazer in clergy sexual abuse matters.

As for myself, I choose to make no additional statements at this time, "yamim yagidu"!

A Concerned Parent Comments

UOJ,
I wanted to share a few of my feelings with you. I know you are very
determined, but the road is long, lonely and fraught with bumps, so it
is nice to have some support.

For a long time, I have been worried about the state of Orthodox
Judaism as it is currently constituted. I grew up with strong emunah,
and knowing that the Ari might have been dreaming, or that Rabbi
Shimon Bar Yochi didn't write the Zohar or that Besht stories are made
up, does not interfere with my willingness to live as a frum Jew.
After all, I still have a lot of meaning in my life and I would like
nothing more than to raise my children in the same system.

It isn't the history of the frum velt that makes such a path
difficult, but the current direction of its adherents. Whenever there
is a public story about a frum guy stealing or going to jail, you
always hear people say that you shouldn't judge a religion by its
adherents, but by what it preaches. This is possible when there is a
minute minority who disregards its ethos and shame the religion.
However, once there is a disturbing proportion who do so, and even
scarier proportion that stand idly by while it happens, it is no
longer possible not to judge.

Frankly, I am scared. I am scared for my children that I won't have
the heart to instill in them the love of yidishkeit that I grew up
with. How can I instill a love when I must warn them and watch them at
every turn to make sure they are safe? How can I sing Hamalach Hagoel
to them as they fall asleep knowing the state of the frum society they
will grow up in? How can I send them to the best yeshivos that they
can get into or my money can buy when I know that they might not be
safe from deviant predators?

None of this however, is the worst part. The worst part is that I
don't have the guts to do anything. How can I stand up and make a
scene when I see what happens to those that do? You have done so and
look what it has brought you. People curse you out and call you every
name imaginable. They threaten your wife and children. They try to out
you and publicly report your name and phone number. They advocate
violence against you. These sick misguided souls compare you to the
Nazis yemach shemam.

Is this the frumkeit that I will bring my children into? Is this the
beautiful religion that my grandparents lived defiantly through
concentration camps for? Is this what we have cherished and protected
all these years? No. Absolutely not. This is a sick twisted upside
down world where the victims are considered the bad ones while the
agressors are protected.

I don't hate the frum velt. I don't hate all the gedolim. I don't
believe there was ever an intentional decision that determined this
direction of the frum world. I understand that we are in a new
generation and face challenges for which there is no historical
guidance. I understand that very well and as a result, I do not cast
blame. However, I hate those who refuse to see what is going on around
them. Intelligent people, who bury their heads so deep in the sand
that they can revile someone for shaming their religion by exposing
the dirty secrets yet have nothing but compassion for those who
perpetrate them.

We are in a crisis and the small glimmer of hope on the horizon is
that there will be more courageous people, like UOJ, who will stand up
and say, enough. Until then, my head will also be buried deep in the
sand. Buried to hide my embarrassment and shame that I am frum and
remain quiet in the face of this crisis.

UOJ-Chazak Ubaruck. I daven for you three times a day.

Sincerely,
Frum and Worried


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