BishopAccountability.org
 
  Judge Sues Diocese over Abuse

By Sean O'sullivan
The News Journal

October 4, 2008

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20081004/NEWS01/810040329

Yet another person -- this time a Colorado judge -- is suing the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, alleging he was the victim of childhood sexual abuse by a priest.

The lawsuit filed Friday in New Castle County Superior Court, against the diocese and Corpus Christi Church in Elsmere, came from Paul G. Quinn, 67, a magistrate judge for Denver County Court. He claims he was abused by Rev. Eugene F. Clarahan.

Quinn's attorney, Thomas S. Neuberger, charges that Quinn, a former parishioner at St. Elizabeth, was abused in 1956 by Clarahan while Quinn was at the home of his maternal aunt and that Clarahan laughed as he molested him.

Neuberger said that Clarahan and other priests were frequent social guests at the aunt's home.

Clarahan, who retired in 1993 and died in 1999 was one of 20 priests named in 2006 by the diocese as having "corroborated or otherwise substantiated" claims of abuse lodged against them.

Diocese officials could not be reached for comment Friday and have generally declined to comment on previous lawsuits.

Quinn is a retired captain in the Delaware Air National Guard who served in Vietnam. He was director of the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice and an assistant U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee in Colorado.

This is the 22nd lawsuit that Neuberger has filed against the diocese under the Delaware Child Victim's Act of 2007, which creates a two-year window, suspending statute of limitations on civil suits seeking damages by childhood victims of sexual abuse until July 2009.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.