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  Uhde Wins Lawsuit against Davenport Diocese

By Courtney Brennan
WQAD
September 18, 2006

http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=5424851&nav=1sW7

Davenport, Iowa - After six hours of deliberation, a Scott County jury awarded Mikael Uhde 1.5 million dollars in his lawsuit against the Davenport Diocese. Mikael Uhde filed the lawsuit against the diocese and the late Monsignor Thomas Feeney who, he says, sexually abused him for six years, starting at the age of 7. Testimony last week showed that some of the abuse had been documented by the church, but no action was taken. Today, jurors said that the diocese was negligent in its supervision of Feeney and that Uhde did file his lawsuit in a timely manner.

Uhde and his lawyers hope that more victims now have the courage to come forward. Uhde says he never wanted to get money from the diocese, he just wanted the diocese to acknowledge the ongoing sexual abuse of children by its priests and to stop covering it up.

The Davenport Diocese must now make some very critical decisions about its future. A few weeks ago, Bishop Franklin said if Uhde won the lawsuit, it could jeopardize the diocese's finances.

 
 

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