Apuron Responds to Sex Abuse Lawsuits, Seeks Dismissal

By Janela Carrera
Pacific Daily News
April 5, 2017

http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/local/13278


Apuron says the cases are so old that he would not have the benefit of witnesses, memory, physical evidence or records to be able to effective defend himself from the allegations of sexual abuse.

Guam - Still hiding from plain view in California, ousted Archbishop Anthony Apuron broke his silence in federal court, responding to the allegations of sexual abuse filed against him.

Through his attorney Jacque Terlaje, Archbishop Apuron filed a motion for the cases against him to be dismissed. Apuron cites the recently passed Guam law that lifted the statute of limitations for filing civil claims against institutions for cases of sexual abuse but says that the law does not quote retroactively revive a decades old statute.

He further says in court papers “the attempt to revive a more than 30-year-old time-barred cause of action is impermissibly inorganic.”

In essence, Apuron’s attorney argues that an older law that imposes a statute of limitations cannot just be changed because the legislature suddenly changed its mind and decided to lift the statute through legislation.

Terlaje furthermore argues that the plaintiffs had an opportunity to file lawsuits back in 2011 when the statute was lifted for a 2-year period but no lawsuits were ever filed at the time.

You can read the archbishop’s entire motion by clicking on the file below.