by Leslie C. Griffin* In blog post 2 I told you about the criminal cases against church personnel. They also faced many civil cases, as the courts decided who should be held liable for abuse. The abuser, certainly. But what about the bishops, cardinals, archdiocese and dioceses who employed and...
by Leslie C. Griffin* In my first Massachusetts blog post, I explained why reporting requirements, statutes of limitations, and charitable immunity blocked many lawsuits against Catholic abusers. Although some abusers escaped liability because of those protections, many Catholics were convicted of...
by Leslie C. Griffin* Introduction Have you seen the movie? Spotlight won the Academy Award for best picture in 2015. That film tells the story of the Boston Globe reporters who investigated sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Massachusetts. The abuse story was unbelievable, yet true. To...
In July 2021, the Southern District of West Virginia granted the Governor of West Virginia’s Motion to Dismiss a case brought by a group of children who are or were placed in the foster care system. Despite the plaintiffs’ claims that the foster care system in West Virginia is in a state of...
By Tim Stier The Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco is in the midst of federal bankruptcy negotiations with over five hundred alleged sexual abuse victims. A primary motivation of Archbishop Cordileone for choosing bankruptcy over civil trials is to hide the perverse behavior of priests and to...
In 2021, the Maine State Legislature passed a landmark law creating a permanent revival window for previously expired child sex abuse (CSA), child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and trafficking claims. This law removed procedural barriers that had long prevented survivors from seeking justice...
Last week, I wrote about the deeply disappointing decision from the Maine Supreme Court striking down the state’s revival window for child sex abuse (CSA) claims. Since then, the Arkansas Court of Appeals also ruled that their 2021 revival window could not be applied to revive claims against...
Leslie C. Griffin* Do you remember Roman Polanski? Polanski, now 91 years old, is a famous movie director and actor, known, especially, for directing the films Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown. He left the United States for France in 1978, after he pled guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl,...
Leslie C. Griffin* Roman Polanski is a famous movie director and actor, known for directing the films Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown. He left the United States for France in 1978, after he pled guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl, Samantha Geimer. He worried that the judge in that case...