Court Notebook: Priest Sex-Abuse Lawsuit against Syracuse Diocese Can Proceed

By Jim O'Hara
The Post-Standard
December 10, 2012

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/court_notebook_priest_sex-abus.html

Syracuse, NY - A lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse - involving allegations four young boys from Montgomery County were sexually abused by a priest - can go forward in its abbreviated fashion, a state appeals court has ruled.

The state Supreme Court Appellate Division in Rochester recently upheld rulings Syracuse Justice Brian DeJoseph made last year in the case of the Rev. John Broderick.

DeJoseph dismissed part of the lawsuit seeking to hold the diocese responsible as Broderick’s employer, noting the courts in New York have clearly concluded sex abuse is not within the scope of a priest’s employment to hold any employer liable.

DeJoseph also had ruled the diocese had no fiduciary relationship with the victims’ family and that the victims’ father had shown no specific harm to him to justify his personal claims in the lawsuit.

Additionally, the appellate court ruled DeJoseph did not abuse his authority in refusing to order Broderick’s entire personnel file made available from the diocese to the family’s lawyer.

DeJoseph’s rulings last year followed an earlier set of rulings from 2008 in which he decided the plaintiffs had no right to seek the same information for use in a criminal prosecution of Broderick and before filing a valid lawsuit.

DeJoseph left intact claims against the defendants for negligence, negligent hiring and retention and negligent supervision.