PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune
BY DAVID SINGLETON STAFF WRITER 04/21/06
A Lackawanna County judge has ruled a former altar boy who claims a priest repeatedly molested him waited too long to sue the Diocese of Scranton.
Forty-two years too long.
Judge Terrence R. Nealon tossed a lawsuit filed in 2005 by a New York City man who says he was abused by a priest at St. Therese Church in Shavertown in 1961, ruling the two-year time-frame to bring the civil case had long passed.
“It is clear and free from doubt that (the plaintiff’s) claims against the diocesan defendants are barred by the statute of limitations,” Judge Nealon ruled in granting a defense motion that effectively dismissed the suit.
Although the plaintiff is named in the complaint, it is the policy of The Times-Tribune not to identify the alleged victims of sexual crimes.