Civil Lawsuits Filed against Reinstated Priest, St. John's Abbey

By Scott Theisen
KSTP
April 28, 2016

http://kstp.com/news/st-johns-abbey-civil-lawsuit-jeff-anderson-timothy-backous/4120243/

Two civil lawsuits against a recently reinstated priest accused of sexual abuse have been filed.

St. Paul attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Bryant announced the filing of the suits Thursday morning. The Rev. Timothy Backous and St. John's Abbey are named in both lawsuits on behalf of two men known as Doe 413 and Doe 188.

One man claims he was abused by Backous at St. John's Prep School between 1982 and 1983 when he was 16 years old.

The other man claims he was abused during a 1990 choir trip to Europe when he was as a member of the St. John's Boys Choir. He was 12 to 13 years old at the time.

Anderson and Bryant also discussed the internal investigations into Doe 188's allegations in 1991 and 2015 in which St. John's cleared Backous.

St. John's said in a statement that the allegations against Backous are without merit and false, and that Saint John's Abbey and Backous "will fully and aggressively defend against the false claims."