NEW YORK
The New York Times
By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: February 22, 2006
New York's highest court refused yesterday to waive the statute of limitations and allow dozens of old sexual abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Church to go to trial.
The State Court of Appeals ruled that 42 plaintiffs, who say they were abused by priests in the Brooklyn Diocese in the 1960's, 70's and 80's, had not shown specific actions by church officials that prevented them from filing suit sooner. New York's statute of limitations requires that negligence suits against institutions be filed within three years of the offense or before a plaintiff turns 21, whichever occurs later.
The 5-to-1 decision is likely to block the revival of dozens of other cases against the church in New York that have been dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds. In a related unanimous decision, the court rejected a claim by a man that years of abuse by a priest in the Syracuse Diocese had made him insane and that the insanity had prevented him from filing suit within the statute of limitations.