DETROIT (MI)
WWMT-TV [Kalamazoo MI]
December 19, 2023
By Katie Sergent
Arguments expected to be heard by the Michigan Supreme Court could determine how the state’s statute of limitations are used within future sexual assault cases involving minors.
Back in 1999, as he attended W.J. Maxey Boys Training School in Whitmore Lake, Brian McLain said he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest, according to attorney Ven Johnson.
“I was attending mass on a weekly basis and the priest, after he would have his mass, would have confession which was ultimately what was supposed to be going on,” McLain said.
According to McLain, he had talked with Father Richard Lobert about something that he had done as a juvenile and wanted to repent, but Lobert ultimately used that against him.
“On numerous occasions, used it against me to do things to him sexually,” McLain said. “I totally, totally went into a depression and I isolated myself for the next couple of decades is exactly what happened. The feeling at that point… I was scared, I didn’t have an outlet to talk to anybody about it… Ultimately, somebody who I thought who a higher authority from God was abusing me so I didn’t really know who to talk to about it or how to say anything about it.”
“When we talk about Brian McLain, and him being the hero that he is, by stepping forward and taking the shroud of silence and behind the scenes and stepping up front and saying ‘No, Father Lobert and Archdiocese of Baltimore and Lansing, you can’t do this to me and get away with it,'” Johnson added. “I just want to applaud Brian and his bravery for stepping forward.”
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Nearly 25 years later, the Michigan Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments pertaining to McLain’s case.
Helmed by Ven Johnson Law, Supreme Court justices are anticipated to hear whether or not the Michigan Legislature’s 2018 amendment to the statute of limitations should allow McLain to file a lawsuit against the Diocese of Lansing, the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Lobert, officials said.
“We are absolutely ecstatic, we greatly appreciate the Michigan Supreme Court in September of 23 saying ‘we want to hear this case,'” Johnson said Monday.
Before June 2018, Michigan had in place a three-year statute of limitations that “branded” a sexual abuse case.
Through that statute, a victim had three years from the date of abuse to come forward and report their case. However, if they didn’t report the case within three years, it would be thrown out, according to Johnson.
A pending lawsuit on behalf of McLain was filed in April 2021, meaning the previous statute of limitations wouldn’t apply in McLain’s case.
However, when trials began in 2018 for former sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted for decades of sexual assault, Michigan’s Legislature changed the statute, allowing victims to report the crime up until the age of 28 or up to three years in which the person “discovers or through the exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the individual’s injury and the causal relationship between the injury and the sexual, criminal sexual conduct.”
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“Child abuse victims often say nothing, and when they do, more often that that, they’re in the minority, they don’t say anything at all, almost 80% don’t, and the 15-20% that do, they don’t disclose until adulthood,” Johnson said. “So that’s why when the Michigan Legislature stepped up and did the right thing, during the Larry Nassar trials, it was such an important step to acknowledge the research of what we know.”
Once the lawsuit was pending in Livingston County, the Diocese filed a motion based on the previous statute of limitations, arguing that the statute doesn’t apply to McLain and the case is retroactive.
However, the lawsuit made its way to Judge Suzanne Geddis, who agreed with Johnson’s firm that the statute does apply.
The Diocese, in turn, filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals. A three-person panel agreed that Geddis made a mistake, and reversed her opinion on the case, according to Johnson.
That led Chris Desmond, chief appellate attorney at Ven Johnson Law, to file an Application for Leave to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Despite slim approval ratings on such applications, the Supreme Court approved Desmond’s filing, saying they wanted to hear arguments as to why Johnson’s firm believes the Court of Appeals was wrong and why Judge Geddis was right.BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT
Oral arguments are expected to take place within 5-6 months, according to Desmond.