MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
By Chao Xiong Star Tribune NOVEMBER 4, 2015
A Ramsey County jury decided Wednesday that the Diocese of Duluth and a Catholic order of priests negligently supervised a predatory priest, leading to the sexual assault of a 15-year-old altar boy more than three decades ago.
The verdict, rendered after less than a day of deliberations, is the first for a trial under the Child Victims Act. The 2013 law has allowed older claims of child sex abuse previously barred by statutes of limitations to be aired in court.
Jurors began deliberating shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, and returned their verdicts about 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The jury of three women and three men found that the diocese was 60 percent responsible and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate were 40 percent responsible for the negligent supervision of the Rev. James Vincent Fitzgerald. They found that that was a “direct cause” of his sexual abuse of a plaintiff named Doe 30.
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