MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
[Corrections and clarifications
March 5, 2015
A story Thursday on the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case misidentified a childhood sex abuse victim of the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy. Although Arthur Budzinski also was molested by Murphy as a child, he was not the victim in the case discussed in the story.]
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel March 4, 2015
The judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy on Wednesday dismissed nine sexual abuse claims involving priests and a counselor at a Catholic social service agency — the largest group of victims eliminated from the 4-year-old bankruptcy to date.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley threw out nine of 10 claims challenged by the archdiocese, saying seven of the victims failed to show evidence of fraud — the basis for their claims — and that lawsuits by two others had previously been dismissed by state courts.
The judge left one claim standing, at least for now: that of Arthur Budzinski, who was molested by the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy at St. John’s School for the Deaf as a boy in the 1970s.
Kelley said evidence suggests the archdiocese may have known as early as the 1950s that Murphy was molesting deaf boys at the school and failed to remove him, and that such disputes over facts must be litigated rather than dismissed on summary judgment as the archdiocese had asked.
The 10 claims taken up Wednesday had been seen by some as test cases that could be used to dismiss large numbers of similar claims.
Victims voiced anger and disappointment at Kelley’s dismissals of the nine. Even Budzinski drew little consolation from his victory.
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