SIOUX CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer
A judge has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City and a former priest, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired.
District Judge Duane E. Hoffmeyer ruled that Daniel Nash did not file the lawsuit against the diocese and the Rev. George McFadden within the required four years after realizing he had a case in 1996. Nash, 47, now living in Ithaca, N.Y., filed the suit in April 2004 in Woodbury County District Court
Nash, a Jefferson, Iowa, native, said he began remembering the abuse in 1996, which occurred from 1969-72 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jefferson when Nash was in fifth, sixth and seventh grades.
Nash had argued that since he began remembering in 1996 that he had been sexually abused, a mental condition had prevented him from exercising his legal rights to file suit and his time limit should be extended.
Hoffmeyer said Nash failed to show he suffers from a mental condition that would have prevented him from taking legal action. Prior to filing suit, Nash had contacted at least six attorneys since 1996 about his case, Hoffmeyer said, before Sioux City attorney Scott Rhinehart agreed to represent him.
Rhinehart has said he plans to appeal Hoffmeyer's ruling.
Posted by kshaw at June 29, 2005 05:31 AM