CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Negligence lawsuits linked to the child sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church in Northern California inched closer to trial Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court.
Lawyers representing San Francisco Archbishop William Levada and attorneys for the adults claiming that as children they were molested by priests argued over what kind of instructions jurors will be given at civil trials scheduled to begin March 7.
At the same hearing Wednesday morning in Oakland, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw turned down a request by church lawyers that he throw out a claim for damages against the Diocese of Santa Rosa for the alleged molestations of a Garberville priest.
Church attorney Adrienne Moran of Santa Rosa argued that attorneys for one of the allegedly abused persons in Santa Rosa, identified in court records as "John Doe," has not presented "one shred of evidence" that church leaders had prior warning that the late Rev. Patrick Gleeson was a child molester.
Posted by kshaw at January 6, 2005 08:02 AM