FALL RIVER (MA)
Herald News
Diocese of Fall River says lawsuit filed by woman in Rev. Porter sex abuse case continues ‘painful episode’
[Porter laicization letter to the pope]
[Original laicization to the pope]
By Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Jun 24, 2013
More than 20 years later, the scandal of the Rev. James Porter continues to be a “painful episode” for the Diocese of Fall River.
On Monday, the diocese said it had not seen the latest lawsuit filed in a Minnesota state court on behalf of a woman there whom Porter abused several times from 1969-70.
The victim was 9 years old at the time. She said Porter molested her whenever he visited her family’s home and in the parish school in Bemidji, Minn., where he served as an assistant to the pastor.
The woman, now her in 50s, continues to suffer emotional distress, humiliation, loss of self-esteem and embarrassment, said Jeff Anderson, a civil attorney representing the plaintiff who has represented dozens of other sex abuse victims in lawsuits against the Catholic Church.
The lawsuit in Minnesota — where the statute of limitations does not apply in sex abuse cases — accuses the Diocese of Fall River and its co-defendants of negligence and seeks $50,000 in damages.
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