Utah Supreme Court Says No Tolling Of Limitations In Priest Sexual Abuse Case

Yesterday in Colosimo v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City, (UT Sup. Ct., March 13, 2007), the Utah Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations barred a suit against the Catholic diocese of Salt Lake City, a Catholic school and several other institutions for damages growing out of sexual abuse of two brothers by a priest over thirty years ago. The court rejected arguments by plaintiffs that the running of the statute should be tolled because they had failed to make the causal connection between the abuse and their injuries. It also rejected tolling the statute on the grounds of fraudulent concealment when plaintiffs had knowledge of their abuse and the relationship of the abuser to the Church, but failed to investigate potential claims they might have arising from the abuse. The court observed that while "the legislature passed a statute in 1992 that tolls the running of the limitations period in child sexual abuse cases until the victim knows or reasonably should know that his injury was caused by the abuse, that statute does not apply retroactively, and so is not applicable here." KSL News reported yesterday on the decision.