CHARLESTON (WV)
The Inter-Mountain
July 6, 2019
By Steven Allen Adams
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey had harsh words this week for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston after it filed an amended motion to dismiss a case Morrisey brought against it.
The diocese filed an amended motion to dismiss the civil suit filed in March in Wood County Circuit Court accusing the diocese and former bishop Michael Bransfield of knowingly hiring pedophiles and not conducting background checks on employees in diocese’ schools and summer camps.
The original lawsuit, accusing the diocese of violating the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, said the diocese had clergy and employees accused of sexual misconduct with children in Wood, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock counties. The civil complaint also accuses the diocese of not disclosing these issues to parents.
“The diocese did not issue its list of credibly accused priests until after issuance of our first investigative subpoena in fall 2018, and continues to demonstrate a pattern of concealing information until external pressure from our office and the media forces its hand,” Morrisey said.
In May, Morrisey amended the complaint to add additional evidence and additional breaches of the Consumer Credit and Protection Act. The diocese first filed a motion to dismiss the case in April, stating Morrisey lacks legal authority under the Consumer Credit and Protection Act to sue the diocese.
“Our lawsuit chronicles the diocese’s decades-long pattern of concealing criminal behavior of priests as it relates to sexual abuse of children, while it advertised its schools and camps as safe learning environments,” Morrisey said.
In Wednesday’s filing, attorneys for the diocese wrote that Morrisey’s amended complaint doesn’t change anything. The diocese believes Morrisey has no authority to file suit and accuses Morrisey of using the Consumer Credit and Protection Act to violate the separation of church and state.
“The amended complaint does not cure the deficiencies noted in the motion to dismiss…It compounds them,” according to a memorandum filed along with the amended motion to dismiss.
“Riddled with continuing misleading and egregious factual inaccuracies, the amended complaint does not save the case from dismissal,” the memorandum stated. “Rather, it expressly demonstrates that (Morrisey) would have this court bless an erroneous use of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act for the statutorily unauthorized purpose of regulating Catholic schools.”
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