MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
Another lawsuit alleging sexual abuse against a Kansas City priest has been dismissed. And like a similar lawsuit that was dismissed in October, the suit was dropped by the plaintiff in order to appeal a judge’s decision in the case.
Rebecca Randles, the attorney for David Tate — who filed the lawsuit in July 2011 against the Rev. Michael Tierney, Bishop Robert Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City St. Joseph — said the case would be re-filed after the appeal is resolved.
At issue is the judge’s dismissal of the diocese from the lawsuit. Jackson County Circuit Judge Peggy Stevens McGraw dismissed the diocese in April, finding that it only would be liable if Tierney had been engaged in activities within the scope of a priest’s employment. In doing so, Randles said, the judge was strictly interpreting some case law that has held that a diocese could not be considered liable if the alleged abuse occurred off church grounds.
The lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, accused Tierney of sexually abusing Tate at the home of Tierney’s mother and at a hotel swimming pool in Kansas City in the early 1970s when Tate was about 12 years old. It said the diocese knew of Tierney’s misconduct with children and covered it up.
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