BishopAccountability.org
	$68M Case against Nashville Diocese Will Proceed Nashville Business Journal [Tennessee] January 18, 2005 In a unanimous decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court has cleared the way for a $68 million sexual child abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville to go forward. The ruling sets a new legal standard for finding reckless infliction of emotional distress. The court's decision holds that reckless infliction of emotional distress doesn't have to be based on conduct that was directed at a specific person, or that took place in the presence of the plaintiff. The decision, which reverses appellate court and trial court decisions, involves consolidated lawsuits against the diocese by two boys who were sexually abused by a former priest with a long history of child molestation. The mother of one of the boys also is a plaintiff. The lower courts had held that a defendant's "reckless or intentional" conduct must be directed at a particular plaintiff, or the plaintiff must have a close relationship with the person at whom the conduct was directed. The Tennessee Supreme Court sent the case back to the trial court for further proceedings along with an order to allow the plaintiffs to obtain additional information to support their case. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for emotional distress resulting from abuse by former priest Edward McKeown. McKeown, who is serving a prison sentence for sexual child abuse, wasn't working for the diocese when he began molesting the two plaintiffs. The plaintiffs argued that, while the diocese didn't direct its conduct at the plaintiffs, it should be held liable because church officials had direct knowledge of numerous previous instances of abuse and had been warned that McKeown was likely to continue to abuse children. The plaintiffs also allege that the diocese paid McKeown $50,000 to keep quiet about the abuse after he was relieved of his duties.