BishopAccountability.org
	Judge Clarifies Ruling in Presbyterian Sex Abuse Case By Peter Smith The Courier-Journal April 18, 2011 http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110417/NEWS01/304170059/Judge-clarifies-ruling-Presbyterian-sex-abuse-case?odyssey=nav%7Chead A Jefferson Circuit Court judge says that he used a strict standard in dismissing a California man's lawsuit against the Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), alleging sexual abuse at an African mission boarding house in 1988. Judge Irv Maze, who dismissed the lawsuit in March, said in a ruling last week Sean Coppedge would have needed to sue by 1993 — or within a year after he turned 18 — under the Kentucky statute of limitations for personal-injury lawsuits. Coppedge's attorneys had sought clarification on Maze's original ruling, which had also said Coppedge was too late to file even under a potential exception to the statute of limitations — his claim that the church covered up what it knew about his alleged abuser. Coppedge said he didn't learn until December 2005 that his alleged assailant — an older teenager — was allowed to live at the boarding house even though mission officials knew he had previously abused another student. The denomination admitted this knowledge in an October 2010 report on abuse that occurred in mission settings around the world. The incidents occurred in present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. Coppedge "had a duty to use reasonable diligence in investigating and pursuing his claim once he reached his 18th birthday," Maze wrote in his April 12 clarification. "This includes a duty to investigate whether (the denomination) could be legally responsible for his injuries." Ann Oldfather, one of Coppedge's attorneys, said she was disappointed in the ruling and that it often takes victims of sexual abuse years to understand what happened to them and who was responsible. Maze "has made it very clear that a sexual abuse victim at the age of 18 has responsibilities to file suit that are well beyond what that young person actually knows at that point and time about any potential liability of the organizations involved," Oldfather said. "I am very troubled about that." Maze specified that the case was strictly one of personal injury. Maze said even if the 2005 date is used, the lawsuit was still too late. Oldfather said Coppedge is considering an appeal. His lawsuit also claimed the denomination breached its fiduciary duty to him, a charge that has a five-year statute of limitations and could potentially allow a lawsuit to proceed under the claim that the clock on the statute of limitations began ticking in December 2005. The lawsuit was filed in December 2010. Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.
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