CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Herald
By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY
Herald Staff Writermontereyherald.com
Posted: 04/10/2012
Three of four clergy-abuse lawsuits pending against the Diocese of Monterey will likely be dismissed or settled for small sums after a recent state Supreme Court ruling.
In a case that was being watched throughout the state, the high court ruled the statute of limitations had expired for six brothers seeking damages from the Oakland Diocese for abuse they allegedly suffered in the 1970s at the hands of a parish priest.
The ruling evaluated the evolving statute of limitations in lawsuits against third-party defendants, such as employers. Issued March 29, the 5-2 opinion created a select category of victims who turned 26 before 1998 but did not file lawsuits during a one-year window of opportunity created by the legislature in 2003.
Among them are two Sacramento men who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey in 2011 alleging the Rev. William Allison abused them when they were children at San Carlos School in Monterey in the 1960s.
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