MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 10/19/2015
Jury selection began Monday in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit against the Diocese of Duluth, marking what attorneys say is the first such a case to go to trial under Minnesota’s Child Victims Act.
The Child Victims Act, enacted by the Legislature in 2013, suspended the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse who wished to sue, even if the abuse took place decades ago. The previous law prevented legal action after victims reached age 24. The new law allows such claims to be brought until May 2016.
Until now, many claims brought under the law have been settled before trial, or rolled into the bankruptcy case of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, or dismissed for other reasons.
In the case filed by “Doe 30,” the Diocese of Duluth denies the allegations — that it was aware that the Rev. James Vincent Fitzgerald had been previously accused and that it failed to adequately supervise him.
Initially, the lawsuit, filed in February 2014, also named as defendants the Diocese of New Ulm and Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The Oblates order settled with the plaintiff, and a judge dismissed claims against the New Ulm diocese.
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