IOWA
Des Moines Register
By CLARK KAUFFMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
June 28, 2005
An Iowa judge has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit brought against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City.
Daniel Nash of Ithaca, N.Y., sued the diocese in 2004 , claiming that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. George McFadden between 1969 and 1972 , when McFadden was pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jefferson.
Last week, on Nash's 47th birthday, District Judge Duane Hoffmeyer dismissed Nash's lawsuit, saying the statute of limitations had expired.
Under Iowa law, victims of childhood sexual abuse have four years from the time they first recall the abuse to file a lawsuit. The Iowa Supreme Court has said that the time period can be extended in cases where a mental disability has made it impossible for the victim to understand his or her legal rights.
By Nash's own admission, he began recalling the alleged abuse in the spring of 1996 and, over the next eight years , he contacted several attorneys in hopes of having them take his case.
Nash also reported the alleged abuse to two Des Moines Register reporters, which led to a news story in 2002 .
However, Nash didn't file his lawsuit against the diocese and McFadden until April 2004 - eight years after his first recollection of the alleged abuse. His lawyers argued that Nash's mental condition rendered him unable to pursue a case.
"The bare facts of the record before the court contradict this assertion," Hoffmeyer ruled. "Nash has admitted himself that he was aware he may have a claim against McFadden and/or the diocese and that he sought the counsel of at least half a dozen attorneys across the country."