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  B'Klyn Perv-Priest Lawsuits Tossed

By Kenneth Lovett
New York Post
February 22, 2006

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/64005.htm

February 22, 2006 -- ALBANY — More than three dozen alleged victims of clergy abuse lost their bid yesterday to seek damages against the Brooklyn Diocese, because too much time has passed since the reported incidents.

Without judging the validity of the abuse claims, New York's top court upheld two lower-panel rulings in finding that civil lawsuits against the clergy are subject to the statute of limitations.

The Brooklyn case was brought against the diocese in 2002 by 42 people and targeted a total of 13 Brooklyn priests. It charged that the clergy allegedly molested the plaintiffs between 1960 and 1985, when they were children.

The statute of limitations in such cases is no more than seven years.

"Regrettably, many of these claims are time-barred, and absent relief from the Legislature, will remain unredressed," the court found.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, ripped the ruling.

"The net result is going to be more child molestation in New York that could have prevented," he said.

 
 

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