BILOXI (MS)
Sun Herald [Biloxi MS]
October 3, 2025
By Anita Lee
A Louisiana man is suing St. Stanislaus, a boy’s school in Bay St. Louis, saying he has recovered memories of being sexually abused by a Catholic teacher during the 1983-84 school year.
A Louisiana man is suing St. Stanislaus, a boy’s school in Bay St. Louis, saying he has recovered memories of being sexually abused by a Catholic teacher during the 1983-84 school year. At the time, the lawsuit says, William Leimbach taught at the school as a member of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.
St. Stanislaus, in 2010, settled a lawsuit filed against the school and Leimbach by another former student who claimed he was sexually abused on multiple occasions by the teacher in the same school year.
Leimbach, who was living in a Brothers of the Sacred Heart retirement home in Rhode Island when he recently passed away, had not taught at the school since 1990-91, according to an article in the Sea Coast Echo. The school said that he had been dismissed over an incident involving two sophomore students but would not disclose details.
Lawsuit details alleged sexual abuse
The latest lawsuit was filed in Hancock County Circuit Court by James Klingman of Terrebonne Parish. He is suing St. Stanislaus College, the historic name of the school, Brothers of the Sacred Heart, which founded the school, and Leimbach’s estate. The lawsuit represents only Klingman’s side of the case. St. Stanislaus has not yet had time to file a response.
Leimbach oversaw the dormitory where Klingman resided when he was abused as a 10th-grader, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says Leimbach called Klingman to his office one evening, where he gave the boy a soft drink. While Klingman drank the beverage, “Leimbach reached over and tipped the can upwards to make sure he drank the whole can,” the lawsuit says. Klingman “began feeling woozy and disoriented.” Leimbach then carried the boy to his room, where he was “sexually assaulted and raped,” the lawsuit says.
The claim is timely, the lawsuit says, because Klingman repressed the traumatic encounter until Christmas 2024.
“St. Stanislaus and the Brothers of the Sacred Heart knew, or should have known, that Brother Leimbach had engaged in a pattern of molesting students,” the lawsuit says, “but took no steps to either protect the students or report Brother Leimbach to the appropriate authorities.”
Damages sought against Catholic school, teacher’s estate
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Charles M. Thomas of New Orleans, accuses Leimbach, through his estate, of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. St. Stanislaus and Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the lawsuit says, breached their fiduciary duty to students under their care, including Klingman, were negligent in hiring and supervising the teacher and acted with reckless disregard for the boy’s well-being.
Klingman seeks unspecified compensation for medical expenses, including counseling and pain and suffering. He is also asking a jury to award punitive damages “to punish and deter grossly negligent conduct.”
The earlier lawsuit describes Leimbach as a pedophile. It says the teacher called the previous plaintiff to his office and sexually assaulted the 15-year-old on multiple occasions.
The student later coped with the abuse by turning to drugs. He found recovery but is still fighting his addiction, the lawsuit says. He recovered repressed memories of the repeated abuse through counseling in 2006, his lawsuit says.
The lawsuit was filed in 2007. In sworn pretrial testimony he gave in the earlier case, Leimbach was asked if he had molested the plaintiff and other students, watched pornographic movies with them and allowed them to drink alcohol. On the advice of his attorney, he declined to answer almost all questions, even his previous addresses, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.