NEW YORK/VERMONT
Albany Times Union
By Brendan J. Lyons
Updated 2:23 pm, Friday, February 7, 2014
The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese has avoided having to turn over nearly 40 years worth of sexual abuse records after a federal appeals court on Friday ordered a Vermont judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a New York man who was taken across state lines and raped by a priest.
The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit indicates that U.S. District Court Judge William K. Sessions III erred when he ruled the Albany diocese had strong enough ties to the state of Vermont to be sued in that state, where the victim’s claim was not time-barred under Vermont’s statute of limitations.
The diocese, on the heels of being ordered by Sessions to turn over abuse files dating to 1975, filed an unusual court action known as a writ of mandamus that asserted the district court’s ruling was so egregious that it warranted an immediate review by the appeals panel. The appellate court, after reviewing the decision, agreed with the diocese.
“The district court’s jurisdictional analysis is clearly erroneous,” states the order issued Friday. “Subjecting the diocese to suit and the resultant foray into sensitive documents — investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by its employees — when the case would be time-barred if brought in New York … constitutes ‘exceptional circumstances’ warranting the ‘extraordinary remedy’ of a writ of mandamus.”
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