A sexually abused former boy scout has been awarded punitive damages of $US18.5 million at a trial in the United States.
The order against the Boy Scouts of America for negligence was made by a jury in Oregon. The amount is in addition to an earlier award of $US1.4 million in compensatory damages.
Kerry Lewis, now 38, was abused by an assistant scoutmaster in the 1980s.
During the trial, lawyers won the right of access to secret files on suspected sexual predators.
These documents, formally known as "ineligible volunteer" files and nicknamed the "perversion files", have been compiled for nearly a century, since the Boy Scouts organisation was formed.
The BBC reports they were kept under lock and key at BSA headquarters in Irving, Texas.
The organisation argued in court that its system was put to good use, quietly keeping out molesters for decades.
Lawyers for Mr Lewis argued that the BSA should have brought the files out into the open decades ago.
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that jurors should be allowed to see about 1,000 of the files, from 1965-85.
When he was aged 11 or 12, Mr Lewis was abused in Portland by a former assistant scoutmaster, Timur Dykes. Dykes, now 53, was later convicted three times of sexually abusing boys, and served time in prison.
The jury found that Dykes was allowed to associate with scouts despite admitting to a BSA official in 1983 that he had molested 17 boys.
Mr Lewis will not receive the full damages awarded. Under Oregon state law, 60% of any punitive damages finally paid, must go to the state crime victims' fund.
