APPLETON (WI)
Fox 11
APPLETON – A new trial has been ordered in the case of two priest abuse victims who sued the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.
In a written order released Wednesday, Outagamie County judge Nancy Krueger threw out a verdict awarding $700,000 to Todd and Troy Merryfield. A jury awarded the damages to the brothers in May after a weeklong trial. Former priest John Feeney was convicted in 2004 of sexually assaulting the brothers 26 years earlier, while Feeney worked as a priest in Freedom. The brothers later sued the diocese for fraud, arguing it repeatedly transferred Feeney to other parishes without telling parishioners about his history of abuse.
Tuesday, lawyers for the diocese argued the verdict should be thrown out because one of the jurors was biased against the diocese. They claimed the juror made biased statements to other jurors after the verdict, saying she was suspicious her brother may have also been an abuse victim of Feeney. The juror later met with Krueger to explain her statements.
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