MASSACHUSETTS
Taunton Gazette
Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Jun. 16, 2015
FALL RIVER — A lawsuit that accuses former Fall River Bishop Daniel A. Cronin of being negligent in failing to supervise a priest who allegedly molested two boys in the 1970s and 80s has been refiled in Massachusetts.
Originally submitted last year in Connecticut, the lawsuit was filed June 5 in Massachusetts after Cronin, the retired archbishop of Hartford, agreed to transfer the case and travel to Massachusetts to testify. Cronin also agreed to waive any statute of limitation defense.
“These two concessions are significant,” said Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who is representing the two plaintiffs.
The original lawsuit had also named the Diocese of Fall River as a defendant, but the diocese is not named in the new lawsuit, a move that Garabedian described as a strategic legal decision.
The lawsuit alleges that the late Monsignor Maurice Souza sexually assaulted the victims from the time they were approximately 9 and 10 years old to when both were 17 years of age. Both alleged victims met Souza when he was the pastor of St. Anthony’s Church in East Falmouth, according to court documents.
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