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	Time Limits Valid in Church Sex-Abuse Suits, Ohio Supreme Court Rules The Associated Press, carried in The Columbus Dispatch June 1, 2006 http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=189617 Ohioans who were victims of sex abuse as children decades ago lost their last remaining legal battle yesterday to sue priests and the Roman Catholic Church over those claims. The state Supreme Court ruled that time limits to file lawsuits apply even if the victim had no reason to believe until recently that the church knew of the abuse. Earlier this year, the Legislature removed from a bill a provision that would have created a one-year window to allow such lawsuits over clergy sex abuse dating back 35 years. Ohio law requires suing by age 20, which is two years after reaching adulthood, for allegations dating back to the person's childhood. For future victims, that time limit will be extended to age 30 once a new law takes effect Aug. 3. "Although we acknowledge the complex emotional issues of plaintiffs who allege that they have been the victims of sexual abuse, we are constrained by the law as it exists today," Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton wrote in yesterday's opinion. The 5-2 ruling overturns a decision by an appellate court that revived the case of a 37-year-old "John Doe" who in 2004 sued the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk and the former Rev. Thomas Hopp. It also upholds several appellate rulings that threw out lawsuits because of the time limits, or statute of limitations. The high court noted similar rulings in several states, including California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas. Daniel Frondorf, a co-founder of the Cincinnati chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the case was a last stop and the group respects the court's decision. "We just lament the fact that we will not have the opportunity to expose these predators in court," he said. "Basically, they've gotten away with it." The Shelby County man's attorneys had argued the church wielded so much power over victims that they often blamed themselves for the abuse and needed more time to sue. The lawyers also said the victim, abused in the 1980s, did not learn of other victims or the church's knowledge of the abuse until 2002, so the clock on the time limit should have started running then. The justices said knowing about other victims was irrelevant. "At the time of the alleged abuse, Doe knew the identity of the perpetrator, knew the employer of the perpetrator, and was fully aware of the fact that a battery had occurred," the ruling said. Hopp acknowledged abusing children, was removed from ministry in 2002 and permanently banned from priestly work by the Vatican last year. However, he denied abusing the Shelby County man. The court agreed with the archdiocese's argument that the time limits are meant to protect against injustice due to fading memories and dead witnesses. "It's very difficult 20 years later to establish the truth of any sort of allegation," said Dan Andriacco, a spokesman for the archdiocese. Very few lawsuits over old cases remain and fall under different laws, he said, such as a man who only remembered the abuse recently and a woman who is suing because the baby she bore as a teenager to a former priest was taken from her. Justice Paul Pfeifer said in his dissenting opinion that the new information the victim gained in 2002 entitled him to sue. "To be victimized by a priest whom the diocese knew to be a serial sexual predator, and yet reassigned again and again to work in parishes, makes the plaintiff the victim of a well-thought-out conspiracy," Pfeifer wrote. Victims feel satisfied with their fight even though they lost in the Legislature and in court, said Frondorf, 40, of Cincinnati, who also was abused in the 1980s. "We feel like we have really exposed the Catholic Church's behavior to the light of day," he said. "The press coverage has gotten the word out for people to know to keep an eye on their kids and keep an eye on their clergy."
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