CENTRE COUNTY — Camp Woodward, a sports summer camp located in Woodward, will pay an $8 million settlement for a lawsuit connected to the previous sexual assault of a 14-year-old gymnast who, according to her lawyers, was inappropriately touched by a camp coach.
According to criminal record, Nathaniel Singer, a coach at the camp, was convicted of four counts of indecent assault, two of which were felony accounts, during a jury trial in January 2023.
According to the victim’s lawyers, Woodward was previously informed of another incident of misconduct between Singer and a minor at the camp, yet rehired Singer despite the allegations.
The victim from Singer’s conviction sued the camp for negligence, negligent supervision, negligent hiring and retention and vicarious liability.
According to court documents, the parents’ filed complaint “raised various state-law claims, alleged that Singer, a former Camp Woodward gymnastics camp counselor, sexually abuse(d) their child in the summers of 2018 and 2019; that the camp had employed Singer despite previous reports of inappropriate sexual conduct; and that camp staff challenged and threatened their child after she reported Singer’s inappropriate conduct and later failed to report the abuse as required under Pennsylvania Law.”
The lawsuit alleged that when the victim reported the incidents to camp administrators she was discouraged from “spreading rumors” about Singer and did not report the allegations to law enforcement.
Camp Woodward asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, which it claimed fell outside of the scope of Singer’s employment so the camp could not be held liable. Singer was suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Gymnastics in July 2020; he was terminated from Camp Woodward at that time.
However, according to the complaint filed by the victims’ parents, due to the fact that the camp was warned of a similar incident prior to their daughter’s assault in 2018 and 2019, the camp is still liable for negligence, despite Singer being terminated prior to the filing of the lawsuit.
According to the victim’s lawyers, David Inscho and Lorraine Donnelly from Kline & Specter, the settlement outcome holds Camp Woodard accountable for failing to protect its campers
“It was our honor to represent our brave client in her quest to hold Woodward Camp and its gymnastics director accountable for allegedly knowingly re-hiring a sexual predator and attempting to silence our client when she came forward about the assaults,” Inscho and Donnelly stated.
