Jehovah's Witness Practices Are Within Confidentiality Exception To Mandatory Abuse Reporting

In Nunez v. Watchtower Bible and  Tract Society of New York, Inc., (MT Sup. Ct., Jan. 8, 2020), the Montana Supreme Court reversed a jury award of $35 million in compensatory and punitive damages against the Jehovah's Witnesses for violating Montana's statute mandating reporting of child abuse.  The court concluded that Jehovah's Witnesses came within an exception in the statute for communications required to be confidential under church law or established practice. The court said in part:

[W[e decline to conduct further inquiry into the validity of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ tenets and doctrines, including its canon and practice for adherence to a requirement of confidentiality in handling child abuse reports. Jehovah’s Witnesses representatives testified that its process for addressing these reports is strictly confidential, notwithstanding the involvement of numerous church clergy and congregants.... 

We hold accordingly that the undisputed material facts in the summary judgment record demonstrate as a matter of law that Jehovah’s Witnesses were not mandatory reporters under § 41-3-201, MCA, in this case because their church doctrine, canon, or practice required that clergy keep reports of child abuse confidential, thus entitling the Defendants to the exception of § 41-3-201(6)(c), MCA. The reporting statute as written accommodates Jehovah’s Witnesses’ definition and practice of confidentiality.

[Thanks to James Phillips for the lead.]

AP: Catholic Church's Release of Sex Offenders' Names Is Incomplete

In a long investigative report, AP yesterday said that Church reporting of alleged sex abusers is incomplete:

An AP analysis found more than 900 clergy members accused of child sexual abuse who were missing from lists released by the dioceses and religious orders where they served....

More than a hundred of the former clergy members not listed by dioceses or religious orders had been charged with sexual crimes, including rape, solicitation and receiving or viewing child pornography.

On top of that, the AP found another nearly 400 priests and clergy members who were accused of abuse while serving in dioceses that have not yet released any names....

Some dioceses have excluded entire classes of clergy members from their lists — priests in religious orders, deceased priests who had only one allegation against them, priests ordained in foreign countries and, sometimes, deacons or seminarians ousted before they were ordained....

Dioceses varied widely in what they considered a credible accusation.....

The largest exceptions were made for the nearly 400 priests in religious orders who, while they serve in diocesan schools and parishes, don't report to the bishops.

Sex Abuse Suit Transferred to State Supreme Court

In Doe v. Marianist Province of the United States, (MO App., Dec. 31, 2019), a Missouri state appellate court said it would affirm the dismissal of portions of a lawsuit brought against the Marianist Province and a Catholic preparatory high school by a former student. However, according to the court, "due to the general interest and importance of the issues on appeal, we transfer the case to the Supreme Court of Missouri."  In the suit, plaintiff alleged abuse by a Marianist Brother who served as a guidance counselor at the school.  Judge Hoff, writing for herself and Judge Sullivan, said in part:

[B]ecause Appellant’s negligent supervision and negligent failure to supervise children claims would require interpretation of religion doctrine, policy, and administration amounting to an excessive entanglement between church and state, the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of Respondents....

... [T]he record contains no competent evidence that Respondents had knowledge of Bro. Woulfe’s history of abuse in 1971 when Appellant suffered his abuse. As a result, Appellant failed to establish the existence of a genuine issue related to Respondents’ knowledge. The trial court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of Respondents on Appellant’s claim of intentional failure to supervise clergy.

Judge Quigless dissenting in part said:

While I concur with the majority in affirming the grant of summary judgment in favor of the respondents regarding the appellant’s negligence claims, I believe the record is sufficient to defeat the respondents’ motion for summary judgment on the claim of intentional failure to supervise clergy because a genuine issue exists as to the material fact of the respondents’ knowledge.

Priest Sues Archdiocese Over Inclusion In List of Accused Clergy

A lawsuit was filed last month in a Missouri state trial court by a former priest who claims that the Archdiocese of St. Louis defamed him when it included his name on a widely circulated list of clergy for whom there are substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. The complaint (full text) in Toohey v. Archdiocese of Saint Louis, (MO Cir. Ct., filed 11/3/2019) contends that the allegations against plaintiff are false, that the Archdiocese never notified plaintiff of the allegations and never gave him an opportunity to rebut the charges. St. Louis Post Dispatch reports on the lawsuit.

A New Wave of Clergy Sex Abuse Cases Is Expected

An AP investigative report published on Tuesday highlights the rash of new clergy sex abuse cases being pursued as 15 states have extended or suspended their statutes of limitations to allow even decades-old child sex abuse claims to be filed:

It's a financial reckoning playing out in such populous Catholic strongholds as New York, California and New Jersey, among the eight states that go the furthest with "lookback windows" that allow sex abuse claims no matter how old. Never before have so many states acted in near-unison to lift the restrictions that once shut people out if they didn't bring claims of childhood sex abuse by a certain age, often their early 20s....

AP interviews with more than a dozen lawyers and clergy abuse watchdog groups offered a wide range of estimates but many said they expected at least 5,000 new cases against the church in New York, New Jersey and California alone, resulting in potential payouts that could surpass the $4 billion paid out since the clergy sex abuse first came to light in the 1980s.

Former Cardinal McCarrick and Newark Archdiocese Sued By Sex Abuse Victim

Just minutes after a new New Jersey law went into effect opening a 2-year window in which previously time-barred sex abuse cases can be filed, suit was filed in a New Jersey state trial court against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. The complaint (full text) in Bellocchio v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, (NJ Super. Ct., filed 12/1/2019), states claims for sexual battery against McCarrick, and for negligence against the Archdiocese. It alleges in part:

31. In approximately 1995 or 1996, when Plaintiff was approximately 13 or 14 years old, McCarrick engaged in unpermitted sexual contact with Plaintiff.

32. McCarrick engaged in a similar course of conduct and pattern of sexual predation of devout Catholic youth under his control.

Washington Post and America report on the lawsuit.

Connecticut Rabbi Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison For Sex Abuse of High Schooler

According to the New Haven Independent, a Connecticut trial court judge yesterday sentenced Rabbi Daniel Greer, a once-prominent New Haven religious leader, to 12 years in prison, with 8 years after that on probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.  The 79-year old rabbi was convicted on four counts of risk of injury to a minor. The convictions grew out of a series of rapes of a male high school student from 2002 to 2005 while the student was enrolled at Rabbi Greer's New Haven yeshiva. Originally a jury found Greer guilty on four felony counts of child endangerment, but the judge reduced the charges to a lower felony class. Other sexual assault charges were dismissed on technical grounds.  In 2017, a civil jury awarded $21 million in damages against Greer and his yeshiva in a suit by the rape victim.  Little of that has been paid so far.

Sex Abuse Victims Sue Claiming Unfair Settlements By Catholic Church

AP reports on a lawsuit filed by two African-American men who are cousins and who allege that as grade schoolers in a Mississippi Catholic school they were repeatedly abused by two Franciscan bothers:

Two impoverished Mississippi men who say they were sexually assaulted by Franciscan missionaries filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming that Catholic officials pressured them into signing settlements that paid them little money and required them to remain silent about the alleged abuse.

The lawsuit, filed in New York, claims the church officials drew up the agreements a year ago to prevent the men from telling their stories or going to court — a violation of a 2002 promise by American bishops to abandon the use of nondisclosure agreements, as part of an effort to end the cover-up of sexual abuse within the church.

Cert. Denied In Dispute Over Liability of National Church Body For Sex Abuse By Church Elder

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied review in Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York v. J.W., (Docket No. 19-40, certiorari denied 10/7/2019). (Order List). In the case, a California state appellate court upheld an award against national church body of over $4 million to a girl who, when she was ten years old, was sexually abused by an elder of the Jehovah's Witness church.  (See prior posting.) The petition for certiorari (full text) raised 1st Amendment issues both as to liability for acts of congregants and production of internal documents. Friendly Atheist blog discusses the case.

Former Priest Charged With Lying To FBI

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced yesterday that it has charged former Catholic priest Robert Brennan with four counts of making false statements in order to  obstruct an investigation into complaints that he sexually abused a child when he was serving as a priest in Philadelphia. AP reports on the indictment. State criminal charges against Brennan had been dropped after his alleged victim died in 2013 of a drug overdose.

38 Abuse Victims Sue Over Yeshiva University High School's Failure To Supervise

Relying on New York's Child Victims Act which has created a one-year window for old child sex abuse cases to be filed, 38 men filed a lawsuit today against Yeshiva University High School and its parent organization, Yeshiva University, as well as various administrators of the schools. The suit alleges repeated sexual molestation of plaintiffs by a high administrator (who eventually became principal), a Judaic studies faculty member and a dorm counselor. The 120-page complaint (full text) in Twersky v. Yeshiva University, (NY Cty. Sup. Ct., filed 8/22/2019) alleges that the schools and their administrators were negligent in supervising and retaining the abusers, and in failing to provide a safe and secure environment for students. The Forward, reporting on the case, notes that a similar suit filed before enactment of the Child Victims Act was dismissed on statute of limitations grounds in 2014.

Cardinal Pell's Conviction Upheld

In Australia, the Victoria Court of Appeal has affirmed the conviction of Cardinal George Pell for sexual offenses.  The court has published a summary of the judgment in Pell v. The Queen, (Victoria Ct. App., Aug. 21, 2019) indicating that the court , by a 2-1 vote, dismissed the appeal. (Case page.) The court's summary says in part:

Cardinal Pell’s conviction and this appeal have attracted widespread attention, both in Australia and beyond. He is a senior figure in the Catholic Church and is internationally well known. As the trial judge, Chief Judge Kidd, commented when sentencing Cardinal Pell, there has been vigorous and sometimes emotional criticism of the Cardinal and he has been publicly vilified in some sections of the community. There has also been strong public support for the Cardinal by others. Indeed, it is fair to say that his case has divided the community.

Catholic News Service reports on the decision.

California Priest Sues Accusers In Defamation Lawsuit

A defamation lawsuit was filed earlier this month in a California state trial court by Fresno, California, Catholic priest Msgr. Craig Harrison who has been accused of sexually assaulting an altar boy, as well as of other sexual misconduct. The complaint (full text) in Harrison v. Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc., (CA Super. Ct., filed 8//6/2019), alleges that the organization Roman Catholic Faithful and its president Stephen Brady at a press conference falsely accused Harrison of sexually abusing two high school students. An investigation by the Bakersfield police department has cleared Harrison, but a press release from the organization Church Militant contends that the investigation ignored numerous witnesses against Harrison who has served as the police department's chaplain.

Suits Filed As New York's Window For Old Child Sex Abuse Cases Opens

AP reports on the numerous lawsuits that were filed yesterday as the state's recently enacted Child Victim Act opened for the first time a one-year window for previously time-barred child sex abuse lawsuits. Defendants in various cases include the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Boy Scouts, Jeffrey Epstein, Rockefeller University and various public schools. Meanwhile, WBFO reports that statewide, 45 judges have been designated to hear Child Victim Act cases.

Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Jehovah's Witnesses To Be Filed Today

The provision in Sec. 3 of New York's Child Victims Act that creates a one-year window for filing previously time-barred child sex abuse lawsuits is triggered as of today.  New York Post reports that two former Jehovah's Witnesses will file suit in state court today:

Lawyers for Heather Steele, 48, and John Michael Ewing, 47, alleged at a press conference Monday that the Witnesses and its eight-member leadership council even maintain a database of church sex offenders that it’s kept secret....

Ewing claims in his lawsuit that a Jehovah’s Witness elder molested him “approximately four to six times per week” for four years, starting when he was 14 — including while his abuser was on vacation with his family.

Steele, who grew up in New York and is now living in Orlando, Florida, claims she was still in diapers when Jehovah’s Elder Donald Nicholson, a family friend, started molesting her in the mid-1970s.

Vatican Waives Diplomatic Immunity of Apostolic Nuncio In France

La Croix reports:

The Vatican has officially waived the diplomatic immunity of the Apostolic Nuncio in France, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, allowing him to appear before a civil court where six complainants have accused him of sexual assault.

This decision, unprecedented in the history of modern Vatican diplomacy, was communicated last week to the French authorities by the Secretariat of State of the Vatican.

NY Archdiocese Sues Insurers For Coverage of Anticipated Sex Abuse Claims

As reported by Church Militant and Lower Hudson News, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York last week filed suit in a state trial court against 32 of its insurance companies to force them to cover the costs of defending cases likely to be filed when the state's new Child Victims Act set to take effect in August. The suit was filed after a subsidiary of the Chubb Group refused to defend an upcoming lawsuit that alleges the Archdiocese knew or should have known about the sexual abuse that was suffered by the plaintiff. The insurance company claims that this is an event that was expected or intended by the Archdiocese, and so is not covered by its liability policy.

Rhode Island Catholic Diocese Posts List of Credibly Accused Clergy

As reported by AP, the Diocese of Providence (Rhode Island) yesterday posted on its website a list of 50 clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of children since 1950.  Over half of those on the list are now deceased. Those who are living have all been removed from the ministry (or in one case resigned before allegations surfaced).

Pennsylvania Appeals Court Reverses Statute of Limitations Dismissal of Clergy Abuse Case

In Rice v. Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, (PA Super., June 11, 2019), a 3-judge appellate panel allowed plaintiff, who was a victim of clergy sexual abuse in the 1970's and 1980's, to move ahead with her suit alleging that the Diocese and its bishops committed fraud, constructive fraud, and civil conspiracy to protect their reputations and that of her childhood priest and alleged abuser. She sued after a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed clergy abuse.  The trial court dismissed on statute of limitations grounds. However the appeals court reversed holding that only a jury may determine whether, for purposes of tolling of the statute of limitations, plaintiff reasonably investigated the Diocesan Defendants for their intentional torts.  It also held that since the statute of limitations may be tolled by fraudulent concealment, the Church's silence may constitute fraudulent concealment when a jury finds that plaintiff had a fiduciary relationship with a religious institution or its leadership. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday reported that the Diocese will seek en banc review.

U.S. Catholic Bishops Adopt New Accountability Measures

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced yesterday that during its June 11-14 General Assembly it has adopted additional measures to deal with clergy accountability for sex abuse:

The first vote, Protocol Regarding Available Non-Penal Restrictions on Bishops, passed by 212 to 4 with 1 abstention. This form of accountability provides protocols for imposing limitations on former bishops who were removed from office for grave reasons. It also empowers the USCCB president to restrict bishops removed or resigned for reasons related to sexual abuse or abuse of power.

A second vote, Acknowledging Our Episcopal Commitments passed by 217 to 1 with 2 abstentions. This accountability measure implements a bishop code of conduct, including the affirmation that the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People is expanded to include bishops as well as priests and deacons.

The third vote, Directives for the Implementation of the Provisions of Vos estis lux mundi Concerning Bishops and their Equivalents, presents a plan for optimal implementation of Pope Francis’s recent Motu proprio in the United States, including an outline for lay involvement. It passed by 218 to 1 with 2 abstentions.

Yesterday, the body of bishops passed another bishop accountability reform, voting for the establishment of a Third-Party Reporting System for receiving confidentially, by phone and online, reports of possible violations by bishops of Vos estis lux mundi. The action item commits to activating the system no later than May 31, 2020.