NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post
Written by
Jim Walsh
Courier-Post Staff
The Diocese of Camden, seeking to block a lawsuit that claims child sex abuse by a priest, has cited phone calls made by the alleged victim in an effort to protect other youngsters.
Lisa Syvertson Shanahan contacted the diocese in 2004, saying she was molested in the early 1980s by the Rev. Thomas Harkins and she wanted to warn others about her former parish priest in Hammonton. Church officials heard from Shanahan again in 2012, when she sued the diocese over the alleged abuse.
U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman ruled June 27 that the lawsuit could proceed, accepting Shanahan’s argument that the two-year statute of limitations for her case began in October 2009. That’s when Shanahan says she realized she had grounds for legal action against the diocese.
The two sides agreed to suspend the passage of time toward the deadline after Aug. 8, 2011. But a diocesan lawyer has asked the judge to reconsider that view.
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