AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Janet Fife-Yeomans
From:The Daily Telegraph
April 05, 2013
THE child sex abuse royal commission is being urged to look at religious protections that have insulated the Catholic Church from ever being found liable in a court for abuse by its priests or at its schools.
The church has become notorious for hiding behind what has become known as the “Ellis defence”, a NSW Court of Appeal ruling that means the church does not exist as a legal entity that is capable of being sued.
The Australian Lawyers Alliance and other lawyers contacted yesterday by The Daily Telegraph said they were not aware of a single court judgment against the Catholic Church, although numerous cases had been settled.
Former altar boy John Ellis, a solicitor who lost his case to sue Cardinal Pell and the Archdiocese of Sydney in the landmark case, described the defence yesterday as a loaded gun.
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