House Unanimously Supports Banning NDAs in Child Sex Abuse Cases

      The Missouri House has voted to take away one of the tools sexual predators use to protect themselves, and to be able to find and abuse new victims.  House Bill 709, which was sent to the Senate this week, would bar the enforcement of non-disclosure agreements in cases of child sexual abuse. 

      Such legal contracts sometimes come into play in abuse cases, particularly when parents or guardians accept a settlement with an abuser.  These contracts have left victims unable to talk about what they experienced, and their abusers have been enabled to change locations or jobs without anyone knowing what they had done, allowing them to continue their transgressions in new places and against new victims.

      “It’s an injustice and a wrong that we can make right, now,” Representative Brian Seitz (R-Branson) told his colleagues. 

      Seitz is the sponsor of HB 709, the latest version of a proposal he has offered for several years now.  He urged his colleagues to again advance it after other forms of the measure have already received broadly supportive votes across multiple legislative sessions. 

      In this latest bid, Seitz told his fellow legislators, “Through no fault of their own, children and/or the medically disabled who may have been abused in the past are being abused again by the misuse of NDAs in civil settlement agreements.”

“These are legal mechanisms that were created to protect trade secrets, not trauma secrets.  Again I state:  NDAs are wholly appropriate if you’re dealing with manufacturing trade secrets, but they can kill trauma victims,” said Seitz, referring to the fact that some victims have chosen to end their own lives, after an inability to speak out multiplied their anguish.

      Other House members offered strong support.  Columbia Representative David Tyson Smith (D), an attorney for two decades, said to silence a child is one of the worst things a person can do, especially when they have been abused and are too young to make for themselves the decision to agree not to speak about it.

“Non-disclosure agreements, when you deal with children, are basically unethical.  It silences them.  They need the ability to tell their story to heal, and often times when families have their children sign them or they sign them, these predators are allowed to continue operating around the state and nobody can talk about it, so this is a way to stop those Predators from continuing to abuse people and it allows the victims to heal and to tell their stories,” Smith said.

      Representative Rudy Veit (R-Wardsville), another practicing lawyer, told his fellows he has dealt with abuse survivors and seen firsthand the courage it takes for them to acknowledge what they have experienced, even to themselves. 

      “[It adds] insult to injury, then, to tell them when the case is settled that they have to keep a secret and they live the rest of their lives with that secret, while the pedophiles continue to go about their business and start up somewhere else.  More importantly is at that moment, they may agree to [sign] and keep a non-disclosure, but then what happens is the time goes on they start to think, ‘Could I have done more to prevent others [from being abused],’ and so now they’re living the rest of their life with another guilt feeling that they didn’t do more, and just eliminate that process.”

      Representative Raychel Proudie (D-Ferguson), who focuses much of her legislative efforts on protecting children, also stressed the importance of adding this language to Missouri law.

      “Typically, non-disclosure agreements or NDAs are put forth to protect business interests.  No one should be in the business of hurting children,” Proudie said.  “We should not be protecting the business interests or behaviors of perverts and people who hurt children.”

      709 reaches the Senate with only three weeks remaining in the legislative session, but versions of the proposal are moving in several other forms and on several other bills.  Seitz expressed optimism during the debate, noting that in the Senate as in the House, the bill has received “total, bipartisan support.”

      “I’m advocating for these victims to be able to at least have their voices heard after their innocence has been taken through the criminal actions of others.  This legislation will help them heal, to share their stories, and attempt to come to terms with what happened to them as children,” Seitz said. 

“While 709 cannot fix the horrific events leading up to signing an NDA, it can prevent the silencing of child crime victims in the future and would certainly make Missouri safer for all.”

      HB 709 was advanced to the Senate 148-0.