CALIFORNIA
CBS 5
05/03/05 7:40 PDT
A state appeals court, ruling in a case in which a former Antioch altar boy has already won $875,000 in punitive damages, has upheld the victim's right to seek the punitive award for molestation by a priest 25 years ago.
A Court of Appeal panel in Los Angeles said Robert Thatcher's bid for punitive damages from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland did not violate the federal and state constitutions' ban on ex post facto laws.
Ex post facto laws are measures that retroactively increase the punishment for a crime or change the definition of a crime.
The appeals court said in a ruling last week that the concept did not apply because Thatcher's lawsuit was a civil case in which a punitive award "does not amount to criminal punishment."
The court said, "We conclude the Legislature did not intend to impose punishment of a criminal nature" when it temporarily extended the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits over past molestation.
Posted by kshaw at May 4, 2005 08:02 AM