GREAT FALLS (MT)
The Associated Press
February 13, 2018
A federal judge is allowing lawsuits to proceed in state court by two people who claim they were sexually abused in a small southern Montana town by a Roman Catholic priest in the 1970s and 1980s.
A U.S. judge has granted a request for lawsuits to proceed in Montana state court that were filed by two people who claim they were sexually abused as children by a Roman Catholic priest in the small southern town of Absarokee in the 1970s and 1980s.
Monday’s order by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jim Papas said the parties were not making progress in settlement negotiations, the Great Falls Tribune reported .
“Time to do something else,” he wrote.
The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, which covers the eastern half of Montana, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while working to settle 86 claims of abuse from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Attorneys for the two victims whose cases are moving forward argued deciding their claims in state court could help determine damage amounts due to the other 84 plaintiffs.
The claims involve a woman who said the Rev. Joseph Heretick abused her from 1983 to 1986 and a man who said he was abused by Heretick and another priest from 1974 to 1980. Heretick died in 1999.
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