APPLETON (WI)
Press-Gazette
APPLETON — Two brothers have won a lawsuit against the Green Bay Catholic Diocese alleging diocese knew of priest’s sex abuse past in 1978.
A jury awarded Todd Merryfield $225,000 and brother Troy Merryfield $475,000, finding that the diocese knowingly or recklessly represented Rev. John Feeney as safe despite his history of child molestation.
During the trial, attorneys for Todd and Troy Merryfield had suggested the jury award a total of $2.8 million to their clients as compensation for their abuse in 1978 in Freedom at the hands of former priest John Feeney.
The assaults of the Merryfields weren’t a matter of dispute at trial. Feeney was sentenced to prison in 2004 for assaulting the boys. He’s since been released.
Jurors began deliberating about 12:30 p.m. after closing statements from attorneys representing both the Merryfields and the diocese.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.