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	Judge Clears Mexico Church Leader in Suit Cardinal Was Accused of Transferring Pedophile Priest to L.A. Associated Press, carried in Daily Breeze October 17, 2007 http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/nationworld/articles/10595032.html A lawsuit accusing Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera of conspiring with Roman Catholic officials in the United States to shelter a pedophile priest was dismissed Tuesday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle found Rivera could not be held accountable in a U.S. court because the plaintiff didn't have enough evidence against him, said Mike Finnegan, the plaintiff's attorney. Steve Selsberg, an attorney representing the Mexican cardinal in Los Angeles, said the judge found no evidence of conspiracy after reviewing a year's worth of discovery collected by attorneys from both sides. Plaintiff Joaquin Aguilar Mendez filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that Rivera, who was then a bishop in Puebla state, transferred a priest to Los Angeles in 1988 for nine months even though he knew abuse allegations had been lodged against him. The priest, Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, is no relation to the cardinal or the plaintiff. The judge's ruling also dismisses claims against the Mexican Diocese of Tehuacan, where the cardinal was bishop at the time he transferred the priest. Rivera's spokesman, Hugo Valdemar, told The Associated Press in Mexico City that the cardinal was pleased with the judge's decision. Mendez said Tuesday that he was disappointed in the ruling, but planned to have his U.S. attorneys appeal the case. He said a lawsuit he filed against the priest in Mexico City in 1994 has gone nowhere and police have not apprehended the priest despite a warrant for his arrest in Puebla state. In a declaration filed in February, the cardinal said he sent a letter to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1987 warning him that Rivera had "homosexual problems." A spokesman for the Los Angeles archdiocese has said the U.S. cardinal never received the letter. The priest fled to Mexico in 1988 after less than a year in Los Angeles because he was accused of sexual abuse in Los Angeles. The priest fled to Mexico in 1988 after less than a year in Los Angeles because he was accused of sexual abuse in Los Angeles.
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