BATON ROUGE (LA)
Catholic Vote [Madison, WI]
January 21, 2026
Following a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that pushed back the deadline for claimants of childhood sex abuse to file lawsuits, nearly 30 new suits alleging clergy abuse have been filed against the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
Local ABC affiliate WBRZ reported that the 29 lawsuits claim instances of clergy sex abuse occurring between 1963 and 1993. More than one-third of the new suits have already been privately resolved.
The suits name 20 clergy, many of whom are deceased, WBRZ added. Several appear on the diocese’s list of credibly accused individuals, which was published in 2019, but 12 are not.
Reagan Charleston Thomas, an attorney representing one of the claimants, said clergy could not appear on the credibly accused list for a number of reasons and said her “assertion of a survivor’s story” is not based on that factor, according to WBRZ.
Another attorney, Julien Lamothe, said that he is looking at a similar sex abuse case from June 2024 — in which the jury awarded $2.4 million to the claimant — as potentially setting a precedent for the new lawsuits.
The outlet reported that the suits came after conflict between state legislators and the Louisiana Supreme Court regarding the statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims. The legislators had temporarily reopened the statute of limitations and given survivors of childhood sex abuse a window in which to file claims, but the Supreme Court blocked the move in March 2024. In June 2024, however, the court reversed its decision and approved the “lookback window” for the sexual abuse survivors, who now have until June 14, 2027, to file claims.