(Faribault, MN) – Even though three separate reports of inappropriate sexual conduct with boys were made to officials, including the headmaster and two board members, the elite private school Shattuck-St. Mary’s allowed teacher and dorm parent Lynn Seibel to continue his sexual exploitation of students at the school. Today, attorneys filed suit in Rice County District Court on behalf …
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(St. Cloud, MN) – Thirty-six years later, 50 year-old Ed “Troy” Bramlage of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, finally has a chance at justice. It took an act of the Minnesota Legislature and a lot of courage, but on Wednesday Bramlage stood in the office of his attorneys, and in front of reporters, told a secret he has harbored since he was 14 years old: “When I was a freshman at St. John’s Prep I was sexually molested by a priest.”
A Sauk Rapids man is suing the Order of St. Benedict, St. John’s Abbey, St. John’s Prep School and a monk who lives at the abbey for sexual abuse he said he suffered in 1977.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Troy Bramlage is the direct result of a law passed by the 2013 Legislature that lifted a six-year civil statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse. The new law gives victims older than 24 three years to sue for past abuse and anyone younger than 18 an unlimited time to file lawsuits regarding childhood sexual abuse. Previous lawsuits of this nature routinely have been dis…
Saint Benedict said in the Rule of Benedict that we are to listen with the ear of our heart.
Considerable commentary has been spoken and written of the 22 monks of Saint John’s Abbey accused of sexually abusing minors. None, however, demonstrates the misuse of therapists to cover up Saint John’s knowledge of child sexual abuse more than the case of Reverend Allen (Gilbert) Tarlton OSB.
Five successive Abbots have known since 1958 that Father Allen repeatedly sexually abused students at Saint John’s Prep and Saint John’s University. To squelch the scandal of monks abusing students…
Media Advisory St. Cloud News Conference Wednesday Sexual abuse survivor to speak publicly about his abuse at St. John’s Preparatory School by Father Allen Tarlton Second civil suit to be filed under the Child Victims Act What: At a news conference on Wednesday in St. Cloud, MN prominent clergy abuse attorney Jeff Anderson will: • Introduce the childhood sexual abuse survivor who is courageously brining suit against the Order of St. Benedict which includes St. John’s Abbey and St. John’s Preparatory School, along with Father Allen Tarlton, for abuse he endured while atten…
In a resounding display of bipartisanship, the Minnesota Legislature has allowed childhood sexual abuse victims a chance to seek justice that was once denied. The Child Victims Act, which passed the Senate unanimously and the House by an overwhelming 123-3 vote, lifts the civil statute of limitations that prevented anyone 24 or older from filing a lawsuit over sexual abuse that occurred while they were children. That gave childhood sexual abuse victims just a six-year window to file a civil lawsuit after becoming an adult. The six-year limit is the same time frame that applies to fra…
A 51-year-old Twin Cities man sued Wednesday alleging sexual abuse by a Catholic priest in the 1970s, the first such lawsuit since the Child Victims Act was signed into law last week by Gov. Mark Dayton. The act strips away the statute of limitations that previously gave child sex-abuse victims until the age of 24 to sue. Exactly what impact it will have is unclear, but St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who is representing the man, said more litigation is inevitable. “He was suffering in the shadows,” Anderson said of his client, who is remaining anonymous. “There are going to be many more [s…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) – Minnesota may be on the verge of a big game change when it comes to lawsuits brought forward by those who were sexually abused as children thanks to a recent exemption to the statute of limitations. “Give this kid and his family a trial,” urged attorney Jeff Anderson. From his ornate office in St. Paul, Anderson has been taking on the nation’s most-respected institutions over allegations of sexual abuse of children. On Tuesday, he was focused on the Boy Scouts of America. Anderson is currently trying to convince a judge that the Boy Scouts should be held civilly li…
The Boy Scouts were not responsible for protecting a teenage Scout from abuse by a leader and claims against the organization should be dismissed, defendants in a Ramsey County lawsuit argued Tuesday. Attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America, its Northern Star Council regional group and the River Hills United Methodist Church of Burnsville, the troop sponsor, argued that the alleged abuse of John Doe 180 by Peter Stibal did not stem from violations of Boy Scout policies and could not have been foreseen. Stibal was sentenced in 2011 to 21 years in prison for the sexual abuse of four Scouts. Jo…
Media AdvisoryMay 28, 2013 St. Paul News Conference Wednesday First civil lawsuit to be filed under the Minnesota Child Victims Act Imperative to the public safety of Minnesotans, complaint seeks the release of the names of 46 priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona What: At a news conference on Wednesday in St. Paul, prominent clergy abuse attorney Jeff Anderson will: • Announce the filing of the first civil lawsuit filed under a new Minnesota law signed by Governor Dayton last week eliminating the civil statute of limitations for chi…
The Boy Scouts were not responsible for protecting a teenage Scout from abuse by a leader and claims against the organization should be dismissed, defendants in a Ramsey County lawsuit argued Tuesday. Attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America, its Northern Star Council regional group and the River Hills United Methodist Church of Burnsville, the troop sponsor, argued that the alleged abuse of John Doe 180 by Peter Stibal did not stem from violations of Boy Scout policies and could not have been foreseen. Stibal was sentenced in 2011 to 21 years in prison for the sexual abuse of four Scouts. Jo…
The Roman Catholic religious order that runs Brother Rice High School in Chicago and St. Laurence High School in Burbank didn’t want Brother Edward Chrysostom Courtney in Chicago any longer. So in the early 1970s, the Irish Christian Brothers shipped him to the West Coast and kept the troubling reasons to themselves. When he was finally ousted from the parochial system 10 years later, landed in a public school in rural Washington and sexually abused a boy there, those reasons came to light. Law enforcement finally got involved. The Christian Brothers dismissed Courtney from the order shortly …
News ReleaseMay 23, 2013Settlement in excess of $16.5 Million Reached in Irish Christian Brothers Sexual Abuse Bankruptcy Offenders operated schools in 17 U.S. States and Canada (White Plains, NY) The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors for The Christian Brothers Institute and The Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc. have approved the terms and conditions of a consensual reorganization plan in the Chapter 11 cases of The Christian Brothers Institute and The Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc. Over 400 survivors of sexual abuse are included in the group of unsecured creditors that will …
May 21, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Six men who say they were victims of former Jesuit priest Donald McGuire have settled their sex abuse lawsuit for nearly $20 million. McGuire is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence after being convicted in several sex abuse cases. “This is an exhortation for truth transparency and accountability,” Jeff Anderson, attorney, said. “It is our call today to action to this pope and to this order and all those like it to become transparent.” McGuire was tried and convicted for child sex abuse in Wisconsin and is currently serving time in federal prison …