Hannah Kate Williams Refiles Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against SBC Entities, Naming Father and Seminary

A lawsuit accusing the Southern Baptist Convention of covering up sexual abuse has been refiled by a new set of attorneys representing Hannah Kate Williams. An earlier version of the same charges was filed in a Kentucky circuit court on Aug. 16, 2021, but was withdrawn some months later. The new suit has received little attention in the national media, perhaps because it was announced just two days before the SBC released its large report on sexual abuse.

Attorneys Vanessa B. Cantley and Brian Kent announced on Friday, May 20, that they now represent Williams, who has been an outspoken advocate for reform in the SBC. Because of a recent change in Kentucky law, cases of this nature must be filed under seal, and Baptist News Global has not been able to obtain the complaint itself.

According to Cantley and Kent, Williams contends she was the victim of repeated sexual abuse by her father, James Ray Williams. He is not the only defendant. Like the earlier suit, the new filing names Lifeway Christian Resources, the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The earlier version also named several individuals connected to these Baptist entities, but the new suit does not appear to include anyone other than James Ray Williams.

The complaint alleges that James Ray Williams, while a student at Southern Seminary and while employed by Lifeway at the campus bookstore, “engaged in unlawful, harmful and offensive sexual conduct and physical abuse” with his daughter. It further alleges that the seminary “negligently failed to act to protect Ms. Williams or other children in defendant’s care” even after learning of the abuse from another employee. In previous public accounts of her story, Williams said she reported her father’s abuse to a seminary student employee who taught swim classes at the campus recreation center, and that no help came. Seminary President Al Mohler has apologized to Williams and expressed sympathy for her case, and has said he had no knowledge of the abuse until Williams told him about it 16 years later. Protecting children who cannot protect themselves is the duty the suit places on the seminary (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Explaining the scope of the charges, Cantley said: “Defendant James Ray Williams had access to countless children in his multiple positions working for SBTS. After all the harm he caused, the defendants’ collective failure to act to protect Hannah Kate, her siblings, and other children is grossly negligent.”

Williams alleges that her father began abusing her when she was 4 or 5 years old, and that he would hold her under water in the bathtub to “baptize” her for her “sins.” She said the sexual abuse began when she was 8. The complaint also alleges that SBC officials “engaged in a concerted effort to discredit, malign and threaten Hannah Kate Williams as she attempted to seek redress for her abuse, causing her extreme emotional distress.”

The SBC and its Executive Committee are named because Williams alleges denominational leaders “engaged in a concerted effort to undermine (her) credibility, malign her character, and threaten her through social media … and at several public church-sponsored events.” Those allegations are consistent with a pattern reported in the independent investigation of the Executive Committee conducted by Guidepost Solutions. Williams contends the retaliation was severe enough that Lexington, Ky., police officers patrolled outside her home. “After knowing the full details of what happened to me, the church turned around and not only blamed the victim, but they actively encouraged animus toward me and weaponized the spread of lies and vitriol against me — to the point I needed police protection,” she said.

Kent is a founding partner of the Philadelphia firm Laffey, Bucci and Kent, and previously represented survivors of Jerry Sandusky’s abuse at Penn State. Cantley is a personal injury attorney with the Louisville firm Bahe Cook Cantley and Nefzger.

In a statement on May 20, Kent said the attorneys want to hear from others who may have been harmed: “We encourage anyone who may have experienced inappropriate conduct or sexual abuse by Williams, or sexual abuse by any other employee of the Southern Baptist Convention to come forward. The church must be held accountable for its negligence and the harm it has caused Hannah Kate, and we believe, many others.”

Source: Read the original report