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  Archdiocese Wins Key Ruling in Abuse Cases

By David O’Reilly
Philadelphia Inquirer [Pennsylvania]
March 14, 2005

A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled unanimously yesterday against 18 adults seeking to sue the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for sex abuse they alleged happened many years ago.

The judges said that even though the alleged abuse was "inexcusable," Pennsylvania's statute of limitations trumped any right to sue on the grounds that the archdiocese had unlawfully interfered with the victims' timely reporting of their abuse.

C. Clark Hodgson Jr., who represented the archdiocese in the Feb. 16 arguments, said yesterday he believed the court's decision effectively blocked such suits against dioceses across the state.

Richard Serbin, an Altoona lawyer who helped to develop the legal strategy that the court rejected, said he was disappointed by the ruling. He said he and his co-counsel, Jay Abramowitch of Berks County, intended to appeal the ruling to the Pennyslvania Supreme Court.

The three judges indirectly rebuked dioceses that have allowed their clergy to sexually abuse minors, but said they had no choice but to rule as they did.

"While we acknowledge that there are many priests, nuns, and religious who are devoutly dedicated to the tenets of the Catholic faith, we must also note that the abuses committed by agents of the Catholic Church are, by far, not isolated events," they wrote.

"Nevertheless, we are constrained to agree with the Archdiocese in this matter, that the statute of limitations bars these claims from proceeding, and we decline to create a judicially crafted exception to the statute of limitations solely with regard to the Catholic Church."

Judges in Lehigh, Allegheny and Westampton Counties last year ruled in favor of allowing certain exceptions to the statute, saying the adults alleging they were abused long ago were entitled to let juries, not judges, decide if a diocese had hidden its role in facilitating clergy abuse.

But in July, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Arnold New ruled against the "fraudulent concealment" strategy, and Abramowitch appealed.

Hodgson, of the Center City law firm of Stradley, Ronon Stevens & Young, had argued before New and the Superior Court that state courts have long held that sexual molestation - even of a child - is a form of battery that starts the statute running as soon as it happens.

Until 1984, sex abuse victims had only two years in which to sue. The abuse incidents under consideration in the 18 lawsuits dated dated from 1957 to 1983.

Serbin declined to say if he believed yesterday's decision would apply to jurisdictions other than Philadelphia. "The opinon is addresed to the allegations raised in these particular cases," he said.

Serbin said Abramowitch was on vacation and could not be reached immediately.

Hodgson said an appeal by Abramowitch and Serbin was to be expected. "There's too much at stake," he said.

 
 

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