PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice
BY TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER
Published: August 8, 2014
The woman who alleged she was indecently assaulted by the Rev. Philip Altavilla when she was a teenager filed notice she intends to sue him and the Diocese of Scranton.
Joseph Lenahan, attorney for the woman, filed a writ of summons on Aug. 1, the same day Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse dismissed all criminal charges against the suspended priest because the statute of limitations had expired.
A summons puts a defendant on notice of a pending lawsuit, but does not provide any details of the claims being made. Lenahan confirmed the lawsuit relates to allegations in the criminal case that the Rev. Altavilla inappropriately touched the woman in 1998, when she was 13.
The Rev. Altavilla was charged in April with indecent assault, corruption of a minor and a related offense after the woman alleged he gave her alcohol and ran his hands up and down her legs following a midnight Mass. Barrasse dismissed all counts because the statute of limitations required the crimes be reported within two years after the woman turned 18, which meant the charges had to be filed by 2005.
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