The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein | May 10, 2024
Tania Culver Humphrey, who alleged Mercy Corps failed to properly investigate her complaints that her father sexually abused her and others for years, has settled her suit against the global charity.
Neither side disclosed the terms of the out-of-court settlement.
“The matter has been resolved to the parties’ mutual satisfaction,” said Michael Fuller, one of Humphrey’s lawyers.
A Mercy Corps spokesperson echoed that sentiment.
“Mercy Corps and Ms. Culver Humphrey have agreed to resolve the current dispute out of court,” the spokesperson said. “We believe that the agreement we have reached is in the best interests of all involved and will allow all parties to move forward.”
Humphrey had argued in the suit that Mercy Corps’ independent investigation conducted by Freeh Group International Solutions caused her further emotional distress and psychological harm, apart from the underlying abuse she suffered decades ago. She sought one dollar in nominal damages and $54 million in punitive damages.
The investigation substantiated findings of The Oregonian/OregonLive’s 2019 investigation into how Mercy Corps’ late co-founder Ellsworth Culver serially abused Humphrey when she was a child and later sought to quash her allegations when she came forward as a young woman.
The Freeh Group report also found that eight people previously affiliated with Mercy Corps, including Culver, may have sexually abused as many as six children in the 1980s. The report also made public additional sexual abuse allegations by Humphrey that a 9-year-old girl in Thailand had died after a night of abuse by Culver and others.
The report followed an earlier settlement between Humphrey and Mercy Corps that paid Humphrey an undisclosed amount of money and for some of her counseling. That was reached before any litigation occurred.
Mercy Corps responded to Humphrey’s lawsuit last month with a motion to dismiss it, arguing that Humphrey sought and voluntarily participated in the Freeh Group’s investigation, that it concluded more than two years before Humphrey filed the suit and that Humphrey had praised the investigation after it concluded. Mercy Corps also argued that it did not control the actions of investigators from the Freeh Group and had given Humphrey multiple opportunities to comment on the Freeh report and paid for her therapy with counselors.
