PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Times
10/03/2005
Six days after a Philadelphia grand jury made public sexual abuse it believed was inflicted on children by 63 priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia over the last 50 years, some of their alleged victims had further pain inflicted upon them. Judges on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that an appeal of 16 lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on behalf of 18 alleged clerical sexual abuse victims -- 10 whom are current or former Delaware County residents -- was not even worth hearing.
"And now this on the 27th day of September, 2005, the petitions for the allowance of appeal are hereby denied," was the extent of the Supreme Court justices’ message to Berks County attorney Jay Abramowitch.
Since January 2004, he has filed 16 lawsuits which name priests who were also named in the grand jury report that was made public Sept. 21.
The plaintiffs ranged in age from 10 to 18 at the time they were allegedly abused by the priests and a former nun -- whom they maintain archdiocesan officials knew were sexual predators -- between 1957 and 1983. The plaintiffs ranged in age from 34 to 61 when they filed the lawsuits.