SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle and Bay City News Service
January 1, 2020
An expected wave of lawsuits made possible by a new state law continued Tuesday as attorneys announced new filings in Oakland and San Francisco by victims of alleged childhood sexual abuse by priests.
The lawsuit are permitted by California’s Assembly Bill 218 of 2019, which opened a three-year window for childhood sexual abuse survivors to file lawsuits regardless of when the molestation occurred.
The statute also allows a tripling of financial damages compensation in cases where an effort to hide evidence of child sexual abuse is proved.
On Tuesday, two men in their 50s sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland in Alameda County Superior Court, alleging they were sexually abused by priests at Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City.
James Brogan, 56, who grew up in Hayward, alleges he was sexually assaulted by Father George Crespin beginning when he was 11 years old.
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