CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
A federal judge Thursday upheld the constitutionality of a California law that opened courthouse doors to more than 1,000 people who sued the Roman Catholic Church for allegedly failing to protect them from predator priests.
U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes in San Diego became the second judge in California to reject arguments that the law illegally interferes with the Catholic Church's religious practices.
"The failure to supervise or negligent hiring of a person that commits sexual assault does not implicate or effect any religious belief, opinion or practice," Hayes wrote.
The ruling arises from a negligence suit brought by a woman who alleged that she was repeatedly raped and sexually abused by a priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Escondido beginning when she was 12. Her alleged abuser, Father Victor Uboldi, is dead.
She is suing the Sisters of the Precious Blood, the religious order of nuns who once ran the school.