BishopAccountability.org
	Second Lawsuit Accusing Priest of Abuse Dropped South Bend Tribune (Indiana) February 19, 1994 MISHAWAKA - A second suit alleging that an area parochial school student was molested by Rev. Robert Mahoney more than a decade ago has been dismissed at the request of all the parties involved, according to documents filed in the Mishawaka Division of St. Joseph Superior Court. Darren M. Robertson caused a complaint to be filed in August 1992, asserting that Mahoney sexually assaulted, battered, raped and abused Robertson many times from 1981 to 1983 while Robertson attended Our Lady of Hungary Elementary School, 735 W. Calvert St., South Bend. The suit was against Mahoney and the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. All the attorneys in the case, except for Mahoney's attorney who could not be reached Friday, and a spokesperson for the diocese, said that they could not comment on the dismissal. Another suit, brought on behalf of James P. Walker, was dropped last December on Walker's request, by his attorney. No reason for that dismissal was given either. The suits were dismissed "with prejudice," which means they cannot be brought back into court again. In the Robertson case, the defense denied the allegations of wrongdoing and maintained that Robertson had filed his complaint too long after the alleged incidents of abuse to be considered by the courts. Robertson said that he did not pursue his claims earlier because he only remembered the alleged crimes in the form of flashbacks in 1992. Judge George Beamer had rejected several attempts to have the suit dismissed for having been filed too late. In December, Beamer granted the defense permission to appeal to the Indiana Court of Appeals. The suit brought on Walker's behalf, filed in July 1993, alleged that Mahoney sexually assaulted Walker repeatedly while he was a student at St. Bavo Catholic School from 1970 to 1972. The diocese had not responded to the allegations, having received four extensions of time in which to plead before the case was dismissed. No response had been made on behalf of Mahoney either. Court documents filed last summer gave a Maryland address for Mahoney.
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