MINNESOTA
TribTown
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: April 01, 2015
NEW ULM, Minnesota — A judge has ruled that three people who claim they were sexually abused by priests can proceed with public nuisance claims against the Diocese of New Ulm in southern Minnesota.
Brown County District Judge Robert Docherty dismissed some counts in the two lawsuits in a ruling dated March 27. But he ruled that the public nuisance claims can go forward.
That’s significant because the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, successfully used the same novel legal strategy in other lawsuits against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to force Archbishop John Nienstedt and other officials to give sworn depositions and turn over documents.
New Ulm is the only Minnesota diocese that won’t release a full list of its priests that have been credibly accused of abuse, Finnegan said Wednesday. He pointed out that Nienstedt used to be its bishop.
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