ALBANY (NY)
Observer-Dispatch
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2006
ALBANY — The state's highest court ruled Tuesday that the statute of limitations could be used as a defense by Roman Catholic dioceses in two key sexual-abuse cases, including that of a former Utica priest.
The rulings dealt a setback to people across the state who were hoping to reinstate cases that had been dismissed.
In its decisions, the Court of Appeals said those who claimed they were sexually abused by priests in two New York state dioceses waited too long to take their cases to court and failed to show the dioceses prevented them from filing suit sooner.
John Zumpano, a former parishioner of St. Agnes Church in Utica, was among those the high court ruled against. Since 2003, Zumpano of New Hartford has been arguing he was molested as a teenage Catholic School student more than 40 years ago by the Rev. James Quinn of the Syracuse diocese. Zumpano claimed the alleged abuse he suffered from 1963 to 1970 rendered him mentally incapable of bringing a suit before the 10-year legal time limit.