PITTSBURGH (PA)
WTAE
August 15, 2018
By Bob Mayo
The Pennsylvania grand jury report on child sex abuse by clergy is about to trigger a new lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 has learned. It could be filed in the next two weeks.
Attorney Alan Perer has represented dozens of alleged victims in lawsuits against the Pittsburgh diocese and other dioceses over the years. Perer said he will argue that revelations in the grand jury report show the civil statute of limitations shouldn’t apply for victims suing the diocese.
“We anticipate filing very soon. I’m already talking to some of the victims,” Perer said. “And our theory is, under the law, if a person couldn’t discover or couldn’t find out information to implicate the diocese — not the priest, the diocese — that there is a way to expand the statute of limitations until the person could have discovered the involvement of the diocese. And we say it’s not until now. Now is when the grand jury, for the first time, has opened up these secret archives
Perer said he’s already making that argument on behalf of alleged victims suing the diocese in the Johnstown-Altoona area. That case is on appeal with oral arguments expected before Superior Court. Perer thinks this fight over extending the civil statute of limitation in these cases could end up before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
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