MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com
A defamation lawsuit filed against a national Catholic organization by a former altar boy whose sexual abuse case was part of a $10 million settlement with the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese is now awaiting a federal appellate court ruling.
The lawsuit, originally filed by Jon David Couzens in Jackson County Circuit Court in 2013, named as defendants 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.
Couzens alleged that Donohue published false statements about him in news releases, on the Catholic League’s website and in documents distributed to churches. The lawsuit also accused the defendants of inflicting emotional distress.
The Catholic League, which is based in New York City and describes itself as the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization, argued that the case belonged in federal court and was successful in its motion to move the lawsuit to U.S. District Court. That court dismissed the lawsuit last year, ruling that the material was first published in New York, where the one-year statute of limitations for defamation claims had expired. Missouri has a two-year statute of limitations.
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