In Lady of Guadalupe, a former elementary school teacher at a Catholic school was terminated after telling the school that she had cancer and would need to miss class in order to undergo chemotherapy. A second teacher sued for age discrimination in her firing. The issue before the Supreme Court is...
This amicus letter was written to support a Petition for Writ of Mandamus where a Plaintiff’s lawsuit was barred based on the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine. Includes issue of whether a private school with a religious sounding name and/or loose religious affiliation can rely on the religious...
CHILD USA together with the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Zero Abuse Project, and Professor Leslie C. Griffin, drafted this amicus brief asking the Court to reject Defendants claim that purported religious organizations are immune from judicial oversight and ultimately legal...
This amicus brief was written to request a ruling by the Supreme Court of Utah after a lower court found that the First Amendment immunizes religious institutions from liability for tortious claims arising from a religiously-motivated sexual assault investigation. CHILD USA examined the ways in...
This amicus brief was written to request a United States Supreme Court ruling after a lawsuit initiated by a priest for defamation against a Catholic diocese was dismissed based on the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine. Issues include whether the Florida case should be resolved according to...
CHILD USA together with CHILD USAdvocacy, The Center for Child Policy, The Kempe Foundation, and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation wrote this brief in support Plaintiff's Motion seeking to unseal the deposition testimony of Lawrence Hecker, a known pedophile living freely in the...
In Lubbock, the Diocese of Lubbock published an online list of priests credibly accused of sexually abusing a “minor,” including Respondent Jesus Guerrero. Mr. Guerrero is accused of having sexually abused an adult woman, whom the Church defines as a “minor” because of her mental capacity. The...
by Leslie C. Griffin* I am waiting for the Maine Supreme Court to decide a case about sexual abuse and the statute of limitations [SOL].1 Statutes of limitations are rules that explain when the courts are open or closed to victims of abuse. I am particularly interested in the implications of that...
by Leslie C. Griffin* The abuse of children by Catholic clergy has a long history in the State of Maine. The Beginning Some initial news about Catholic Maine abuse was released when the Maine Supreme Court ordered it. In Blethen Maine Newspapers v. Maine, 871 A.2d 523 (Me. 2005), the Supreme Court...