MAINE
Leagle
ANGELL v. HALLEE
2012 ME 10
CHRISTINE S. ANGELL
v.
RENALD C. HALLEE
Docket: Cum-10-587.
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.
Argued: September 13, 2011.
Decided: January 31, 2012.
Sumner H. Lipman, Esq., and Keith R. Varner, Esq., Lipman, Katz & McKee, P.A., Augusta, for appellant Christine S. Angell.
Peter J. DeTroy, Esq., Russell B. Pierce, Jr., Esq., and Darya I. Haag, Esq., Norman, Hanson & Detroy, LLC, Portland, for appellee Renald C. Hallee.
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, LEVY, SILVER, MEAD, GORMAN, and JABAR, JJ.
SILVER, J.
[¶ 1] Christine S. Angell appeals the entry in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Cole, J.) of a judgment on the pleadings in favor of Renald C. Hallee. Angell alleges that Hallee sexually abused her during her childhood, while he was a priest at St. John’s Parish in Bangor in the 1970s. Angell argues that the court erred in imposing a burden on her to allege and prove that the statute of limitations was tolled. We agree and vacate the judgment.
I. BACKGROUND
[¶ 2] On a motion for judgment on the pleadings, we review the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, in this case Angell. See Tornesello v. Tisdale, 2008 ME 84, ¶ 2, 948 A.2d 1244. Angell was born in 1961. She alleges that Hallee’s abuse occurred from approximately 1970 to 1973, when she was between about eight and twelve years old. Angell filed her complaint on March 25, 2010, including claims against Hallee for negligence, sexual assault and battery, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, clergy malpractice, and breach of fiduciary duty. She brought a claim against both Hallee and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland for fraudulent concealment and sought punitive damages from both defendants.
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