SOUTH CAROLINA
The Post and Courier
Dave Munday
Posted: Wednesday, January 8, 2014
A brother and two sisters whose sex-abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Charleston was dismissed can proceed to trial after all, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The siblings allege they were abused by a priest at St. William Church in Ward between 1965 and 1971. Ward is west of Columbia near Saluda.
The diocese announced a class-action settlement setting up a fund for sex-abuse victims in 2007 and announcing a deadline to apply for compensation. The siblings, who were living near Charlotte at the time, did not hear about the settlement since it was announced in the Rock Hill Herald and not the Charlotte Observer, attorney Gregg Meyers said. He argued they should also be entitled to compensation and filed for a trial in 2009.
Circuit Judge Kristi Harrington dismissed the case. She ruled that the siblings had missed the deadline specified in the suit for filing for compensation and could not file a similar suit. She also said the statute of limitations on sex-abuse litigation had expired.
Meyers appealed to the state’s high court. The appeal also includes the mother, who is listed as another Jane Doe.
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