PALM BEACH (FL)
Palm Beach Post
June 4, 2018
By Jane Musgrave
Photo caption: The Rev. John Gallagher talks about the libel lawsuit he filed against the Palm Beach Diocese Wednesday, January 11, 2017. The suit will also expose continuing Vatican efforts to publicly suppress child abuse cases from authorities, say he and his lawyer, Theodore Babbitt.
Rev. John Gallagher is taking his defamation case against the Diocese of Palm Beach to the Florida Supreme Court.
Arguing that an appeals court erred when it in May threw out his lawsuit, Gallagher on Friday asked the state’s highest court to overturn that decision. If it does so, a Palm Beach County jury would be allowed to decide whether the diocese defamed Gallagher by publicly questioning his sanity after he accused it of trying to cover up sexual abuse by a visiting priest.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal threw out Gallagher’s suit, citing the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine.” The doctrine prohibits secular courts from getting involved in religious matters.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.