More than a dozen former students at Calvert Hall College High School are suing the institution and affiliate organizations for sexual assault they endured as children at the hands of staff members.

The allegations are the first to arise from the prominent Baltimore County private school and follow a slew of other cases being filed against other private schools, public education centers and the Catholic Church.

“These are students at Calvert Hall who suffered terrible acts of repeated sexual abuse and sexual harassment by trusted members of the faculty and clergy members, their lives were shattered,” said Steve Kelly, a principal at the law firm Grant & Eisenhofer, which represents some of the victims. “Calvert Hall leaders either knew about what was happening, or they ignored bright red flags over and over and over again.”

Eight former staff members are implicated in the allegations, all of them with connections to the Catholic Church.

Three of the staff members are still living including Father Francis LeFavre and Father Jerome Toohey.

The lawsuit claims the staff members made boys swim naked and swam naked along with them, forced sexual acts on the boys and invited them into their homes.

The allegations come as some sexual assault survivors are feeling rushed to come forward after the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill earlier this month to limit the amount of funds victims can win from organizations harboring alleged abusers.

The bill limits the payouts of what survivors can receive from public institutions from $890,00 to $400,000

It limits the cap on private institutions from $1.5 million to $700,000.

It also caps fees for attorneys at 20% for cases settled out of court and 25% for cases that go to trial.

Cases that are filed before June 1 will not be subject to the new caps.

The 2023 Childhood Victims Act abolished the statute of limitations on when survivors could come forward to sue institutions.