Boy Scouts of America has asked the Montana Supreme Court to dismiss claims against the organization by five of six women raped as children by Kalispell Scout leader William Leininger Jr. in 1974 and 1975.

The organization filed a writ for supervisory control to the high court on Feb. 5 asking that judgment be granted in favor of the Boy Scouts.

The Scouts want the high court to overrule a decision by Cascade County District Judge James P. Reynolds, who has ruled the case should go to a jury.

The scouting organization claims that the women’s case is beyond the state’s three-year statute of limitations and was only filed after similar cases in other states resulted in “lucrative” settlements for victims of sexual abuse. The statute says that victims can bring claims three years after the victims realize the harm that was done to them.

“They do not claim repressed memory or some new factual revelation,” Boy Scouts attorney Randy Cox wrote to the high court. “They have known of the events since they occurred. While the lawsuit is recent, the undisputed evidence makes clear that each plaintiff has recognized the existence and cause of her damages for decades.”

Leininger was convicted in 1976 of abusing the six young female Explorer Scouts. He was released and convicted again in 1982 of another charge of sexual intercourse without consent. He died in prison in 2002 at age 80.

The filing claims the women have given testimony and documentation that the abuse affected them in their interpersonal relationships decades before the lawsuit was filed. Some of the women suffered eating disorders, sometimes identified themselves as rape survivors to potential partners and an employer, and blamed the rapes as the reason for a parent’s divorce, the claim states.

All of these things occurred long before the lawsuit was filed in 2011, the Boy Scouts argue.

“Leininger’s crimes were despicable acts that betrayed the trust of the victims and town,” the Boy Scouts’ appeal said. “Defendants do not question the magnitude of the offenses, nor the courage it took plaintiffs to report Leininger’s violations. Plaintiffs’ lawsuit, however, does not target Leininger. Instead, plaintiffs sued the Boy Scouts 40 years after the secret crimes, seeking to hold the national organization and local council responsible for hidden acts. As a matter of law, those claims are barred by the statute of limitations specific to childhood sexual abuse.”

Gilion Dumas, attorney for the five women, who are now in their 50s, does not believe the Boy Scouts will prevail before the high court. Writs of supervisory control are not formal appeals, she said, which means the court does not technically have to deal with them.

“That is an extraordinary motion for the Montana Supreme Court to do,” Dumas said. “It would be very rare for the Montana Supreme Court to take that action. We don’t expect the Montana Supreme Court to do that. As the trial court found, the statute of limitations is a fact issue for the jury to decide.”

Dumas said the case is unique in that it charges the Boy Scouts not only with negligence, but also with fraud.

“They are suing for the cover-up by the Boy Scouts,” said Dumas, whose law practice is based in Portland, Oregon.

Since an initial court ruling in October 2012 ordered the public release of the organization’s “perversion files,” more than 6,000 documents have surfaced documenting cases of sexually abusive leadership dating back to 1948, Dumas said.

“The Boy Scouts had a history going back decades of pedophiles targeting the Boy Scouts because it was such an easy target to have access to children,” she said. “The Boy Scouts knew that and kept it secret.”

Dumas said her clients are seeking monetary damages.

“The civil court system only allows them to seek monetary damages,” Dumas said. “Of course they would like to have their childhoods back, but that’s not possible.”

Dumas hopes that if the high court denies the motion, a trial schedule can be set. “These women have waited a long time to have these stories heard.”

On Friday, the Montana Supreme Court ordered that the plaintiffs respond to the filing within the next 30 days.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.