JACKSON (MS)
The Clarion-Ledger
The state Supreme Court refused Thursday to reconsider its May ruling allowing a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a priest to go forward against the Catholic Diocese of Jackson.
Brothers Kenneth Morrison of Chicago, Thomas Morrison of Jackson and Francis Morrison Jr. of Texas and their mother, Dorothy Morrison of Madison, filed the $48 million lawsuit in 2002 in Hinds County Circuit Court alleging a priest sexually abused the brothers more than 30 years ago.
In the high court's 84-page opinion in May, it said the First Amendment does not protect the church from civil litigation. The ruling upholds a 2003 decision by Circuit Judge Winston Kidd.