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	Bellelville Diocese Loses Appeal in Sex Abuse Case St. Louis Post-Dispatch January 15, 2011 http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/article_362b1bc8-3bed-5fc2-9f86-856dac609d54.html MOUNT VERNON, ILL. • A Southern Illinois appeals court panel has refused to overturn a $5 million jury award against the Diocese of Belleville to a former altar boy who claimed he was sexually abused by a priest decades ago. The 5th District Appellate Court, in a 2-1 ruling made public Thursday and first reported by the Belleville News-Democrat, rejected the diocese's challenge of a 2008 verdict favoring James Wisniewski of Champaign, Ill. Wisniewski sued in 2002 in St. Clair County, alleging that the Rev. Raymond Kownacki sexually abused him for five years in the 1970s beginning when he was 13. The lawsuit also claimed the diocese concealed Kownacki's suspected behavior and quietly shuffled him among parishes. Kownacki was removed from priestly duties in 1995 by a diocesan review board. Kownacki, who has said he would not publicly discuss the case, has an unlisted home telephone number in Dupo and could not be reached Friday. The diocese issued a statement Friday saying it "acknowledges the Illinois Appellate Court's decision" and "continues to express regret for any instance of sexual abuse of a minor by a member of its clergy." If any future appeals by the diocese fail, one of Wisniewski's attorneys said the diocese would have to pay the $5 million jury award, plus $1.1 million that has accrued in interest. "Hopefully the diocese will do the right thing and the Christian thing and finally see that this man gets justice. But if their past conduct is anything to go by, I wouldn't hold my breath," Mike Weilmuenster said. On appeal, the diocese had argued that Wisniewski's claims of sexual abuse in the mid-1970s, while he was an altar boy at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem, Ill., were past the statute of limitations. But an exception to the time limitations involved whether the diocese engaged in "fraudulent concealment" by not informing parishioners or Wisnieweski that they had numerous reports that Kownacki sexually abused children. The two appellate judges who upheld the jury award noted that the diocese did not argue the $5 million award was excessive. The ruling also found that the allegations against the diocese were not refuted.
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