MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
December 9
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
A former altar boy whose case prompted a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese that resulted in a $2.25 million settlement is suing a national Catholic organization, alleging defamation and invasion of privacy.
Jon David Couzens filed the lawsuit against the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; its president and CEO, Bill Donohue; the KC Catholic League; and two Kansas City men who were officers of the now-dissolved local organization.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges that Donohue published false statements about Couzens in news releases, on the Catholic League’s website and in documents distributed to churches. In those statements, Donohue said that Couzens had been involved in a botched drug deal and implicated in a murder.
“It’s a very sad thing that William Donohue and the Catholic League are attacking those who the priesthood has already abused,” Couzens said in a statement. “I now understand why other victims don’t come forward. The things said about me are so cruel and offensive they cut to the core of my being.
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