This
year has been filled with disturbing revelations of trusted institutions failing
to protect children across the country. The utter failure of mandatory
reporters to follow their mandate is part and parcel of this year’s numerous
sex abuse scandals.
News & Events
Working with the Oahu-based law firm of Mark Gallagher, nationally prominent clergy abuse law firm Jeff Anderson& Associates, announced today the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of two Honolulu men who say they were sexually abused in the 1980’s by a Christian Brother employed at Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu.The plaintiffs, identified in the complaint as John Roe 3 an…
HARRISBURG – Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier lied to grand jurors, ignored investigators’ subpoenas, and ultimately left five young boys to the whims of a sexual predator, state prosecutors charged Thursday as the former administrator became the latest official caught in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.Along with suspended athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, who are already charged in the case, Spanier exhibited a “callous lack of concern” for Sandusky’s victims and a “definite interest in shielding the man who …
Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier lied to grand jurors, ignored investigators’ subpoenas, and ultimately left five young boys to the whims of a sexual predator, state prosecutors charged Thursday as the former administrator became the latest official caught in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.Along with suspended athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, who are already charged in the case, Spanier exhibited a “callous lack of concern” for Sandusky’s victims and a “definite interest in shielding …
The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay has been ordered to pay a half-million dollars in a civil lawsuit involving a priest accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy.A Las Vegas jury concluded Thursday the diocese was negligent in transferring John Patrick Feeney to a Nevada parish where he allegedly molested the boy.The Green Bay Diocese will have to pay a $500,000 in damages; the suit originally sought $5.1 million.The man in the Las Vegas case says Feeney sexually assaulted him in 1984, when Feeney visited the family’s home while serving the city’s St. Francis De Sales Parish. The man’s attorneys s…
A federal judge on Monday handed partial victories to both the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the sex abuse victims who make up the vast majority of creditors in its bankruptcy.The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa, lets stand a February decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley dismissing one victim’s claim and allowing two others to move forward, at least for now.The three cases were seen as test cases in which the archdiocese argued that a significant number of victims of clergy sexual abuse had enough information on the church’s handling of cases to have filed fraud claims…
The Order of Judge Randa allowing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
bankruptcy cases to move forward on the basis of fraud is positive news
for all those survivors seeking relief from the horrors they endured as
vulnerable children, and for that reason, we are pleased.
Today, attorneys in Oregon are releasing stunning evidence of the Boy Scouts of America’s knowledge of the problem of child sexual abuse in Scouting. The Boy Scout’s Ineligible Volunteer or “Perversion Files” document reports of abuse of Scouts by…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The law firm that’s repeatedly sued religious institutions for covering up alleged child sexual abuse says it’s working on behalf of possible victims of alleged sexual misconduct at the Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Faribault.Gregg Meyers, an attorney with the St. Paul-based Jeff Anderson and Associates, said people who say they are victims of a drama teacher charged Monday with 17 counts of criminal sexual misconduct have started to come forward. A possible third victim may also come forward, he said.”We are in the process of doing the analysis that will tell us, …
In yet another stunning example that child protection continues to take a backseat to protecting Catholic institutions and the religious, it is reported that the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts requires parents to sign a liability waiver when sending their children for religious education. The Parental Contract for Diocesan Activities rests the ultimate responsibility for supervising a child on the parent even if the child is entrusted to the church for activities and programming. Most importantly, parents must “specifically agree not to hold the Diocese or any of its employee…
Today, Jackson County Judge John Torrence found Bishop Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph guilty on one count of failing to report child abuse. Bishop Finn’s trial arises out of his own actions and the Diocese’s actions surrounding the December 2010 discovery that a Diocesan priest, Rev. Shawn Ratigan, produced child pornography with young parishioners of the Diocese.
A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday by an alleged victim of Catholic priest abuse is just the first, activists say, after a California Court of Appeal ruling last week opened the door to additional lawsuits in these cases.A Sacramento woman, referred to as Jane Doe SS in the suit, filed the civil suit against the L.A. Catholic Archdiocese and St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs. The woman alleges that she was a 15-year-old student at the school in 1980 when Michael Nocita, a Catholic priest and teacher there at the time, sexually abused her on school grounds during school hours.
On the heels of the release of Bishop Finn’s comment, “boys will be boys,” as revealed in his staffer’s deposition last week, his criminal trial has been accelerated.Bishop Finn’s trial, originally scheduled for September 24, will now start tomorrow afternoon in Kansas City. Both sides will now present their evidence and testimony in front of a judge, not a jury, at the request of Bishop Finn’s attorneys…
A recent California Court of Appeals ruling has allowed a Sacramento County woman who was raped by a priest in the 1980’s to file a lawsuit today against the school where the priest was assigned and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is expected that the ruling is likely to have significant implications for a great many victims of child sexual abuse, giving them new hope for justice in California courts.
“Boys will be boys,” uttered Bishop Finn after being told about child pornography on Rev. Shawn Ratigan’s computer. “Sometimes priests do things they shouldn’t.” Bishop Finn’s appalling gaffe, spoken to a computer systems employee of the Diocese, reveals stunning, inside conversations and new details about Bishop Finn’s cover-up of Ratigan’s crimes. If boys will be boys, as Bishop Finn claims they will, then priests will continue to abuse kids until the Pope acts definitively to protect children instead of putting reputation over child welfare.Shawn Ratigan pleaded guilty earlie…