LANSING (MI)
WLNS [Lansing MI]
December 19, 2023
By McKoy Scribner
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal surrounding a sexual abuse case with priest Richard Lobert who was with the Diocese of Lansing.
The attorney representing Brian McLain says Lobert sexually assaulted him on multiple occasions back in 1999.
McLain says the sexual abuse took place at the WJ Maxey Boys Training School in Livingston County where Lobert was also a priest.
The lawyer representing McClain, Ven Johnson, said the Michigan Supreme Court will now decide if the lawsuit was timely under the state legislature’s 2018 amendment to the statute of limitations.
In 2018 Michigan increased the statute of limitations to 28 years old. This was in response to the conviction of Larry Nassar who abused hundreds of female athletes.
Johnson says because the highest court in the state agreed to hear the appeal to McLain’s case, this will set a legal precedent for future sexual assault cases in Michigan by interpreting the 2018 amendment.
“Once we filed the lawsuit, the first step that the Roman Catholic church did on behalf of all three of these people, is they filed a motion based on the statute of limitations in saying ‘too late,’” McLain said. “But now we’re dealing with what we believe to be the new statute and they’re arguing ‘No, that’s not how it should be, it should be like the old statute.’”
McLain’s lawyer is urging others who may have been victims of Lobert to come forward. 6 News reached out to the Diocese of Lansing and has not received any comment on this case at this time.