HAWAII
The Maui News
December 9, 2012
By LILA FUJIMOTO – Staff Writer (lfujimoto@mauinews.com) , The Maui News
A Maui man is suing the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii and the religious order that runs Damien Memorial School on Oahu, under a new state law providing a two-year window for child sexual abuse victims to file civil actions, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred in Hawaii.
The man, referred to as John Roe No. 5 to protect his privacy, was 14 or 15 years old, after entering Damien as a freshman in 1986, when the sexual abuse began, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in 1st Circuit Court on Oahu.
The lawsuit identifies his abuser as Brother John Paul Medvit, who was a teacher at Damien during periods in the 1980s and 1990s. He died in August.
The lawsuit alleges negligence and fraud by the Congregation of Christian Brothers of Hawaii and the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii. School and church officials didn’t tell students or parents “that they had or should have had information that Medvit had a pattern of grooming and molesting boys,” according to the lawsuit.
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