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	Child Victims Must Sue by 20 Ruling Could Wipe out Scores of Suits against Priests By Dan Horn Cincinnati Enquirer June 1, 2006 http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060601/NEWS01/606010381/1077 Ohioans who accuse Catholic priests of abusing them as children must sue by age 20 or their cases will be thrown out, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The court's 5-2 decision could wipe out dozens of lawsuits across the state that accused priests of sexual abuse. The ruling is a setback to abuse victims and their advocates, who wanted the court to extend Ohio's time limit for filing lawsuits. The justices said they understood why victims might want more time to come to terms with the abuse before going to court. But they said it would be unfair and improper to ignore a law that has been in place for decades. "We are constrained by the law as it exists today," wrote Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who authored the majority opinion. Attorneys on both sides believe the court's decision is likely to affect dozens of lawsuits, including those involving more than 50 people in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Most of those cases have been dismissed by lower courts and would have been reinstated if the court had extended the time limit. Now, all pending cases filed after the deadline are likely to be dismissed. "Many of my clients are just crushed," said Konrad Kircher, a Mason lawyer who filed several lawsuits and argued the case before the Supreme Court. "They are reeling from this decision. They feel victimized all over again." Current law requires victims of child abuse to sue within two years of their 18th birthday. Those who allege abuse after their 18th birthday have two years from the time of the alleged abuse to sue. A new law will extend the deadline to 12 years, but it does not take effect until this summer and would not help accusers in older cases. The case decided Wednesday focused on a 37-year-old Shelby County man's claim that he was abused by the Rev. Thomas Hopp for three years, starting at age 12. An appeals court ruled the man's lawsuit could go forward, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision. Kircher said he is considering his appeal options, including the possibility of asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, but he acknowledged the chances of success are slim. Church officials argued against extending the deadline, because it would be difficult to defend against allegations from so long ago. Some of the lawsuits accuse priests of abuse 20 or 30 years ago. "We don't believe it is good public policy to ignore the statute of limitations," said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco. "There are reasons why the statute of limitations exists. Those reasons don't disappear because the crime is an especially horrible one." Most justices agreed. They said the statute serves as a gate-keeper that ensures fairness to defendants by deciding the case promptly. Without a time limit, the justices said, evidence grows stale and witnesses' memories fade. Stratton was joined by Thomas Moyer, Maureen O'Connor, Terrence O'Donnell and Judith French in the majority. Paul Pfeifer and Beth Whitmore dissented. French and Whitmore heard the case for justices Judith Ann Lanzinger and Alice Robie Resnick, who recused themselves. In his dissent, Pfeifer argued that accusers should be permitted to sue after the deadline if the lawsuits challenge the conduct of church officials - not just the conduct of the accused priest. Pfeifer noted that the accuser in the Hopp case claimed the church was negligent in failing to protect him, and that he did not learn of that negligence until years later. "To be victimized by the depravity of one fallen priest is its own tragedy," Pfeifer wrote. "To be victimized by a priest whom the diocese knew to be a serial sexual predator ... makes the plaintiff the victim of a well-thought-out conspiracy." Some victims' advocates said the ruling shows the need for a new state law allowing victims to sue in old abuse cases. The Ohio House rejected such a law earlier this year. "The church no longer has to worry," said Christy Miller, co-leader of Cincinnati's chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, whose lawsuit alleging sexual abuse is now in jeopardy. "They can't be held liable. I'll never see my day in court." E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com
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