With a judge’s decision that clergy sexual-abuse lawsuits against the Denver Roman Catholic Archdiocese should be argued in state court, the legal battle is about to shift.
Among the developments expected in the coming months: attempts by lawyers for the alleged victims to obtain priests’ personnel files and testimony from top church leaders.
Another key argument will center on whether the more than two dozen lawsuits filed in recent months deal with events so old that the statute of limitations has passed, lawyers say.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock on Friday turned away the archdiocese’s attempts to move the lawsuits from state court, where they were filed, to federal court. Church lawyers argued that the cases should be moved because they raise critical First Amendment issues.
Babcock told attorneys for both sides they were “forum shopping,” looking for the venue where they had the best chance of winning. State courts have been more favorable to the alleged victims’ claims, while federal courts have been more favorable to the church’s position.
The ruling cannot be appealed, said Charles Goldberg, the archdiocese’s general counsel. He declined comment on possible next steps.
The lawsuits take aim at the archdiocese for its handling of former priest Harold Robert White and the Rev. Leonard Abercrombie, who died in 1994. Both men have been accused of multiple counts of sexual abuse of altar boys and other young parishioners decades ago.
Lawyers for the alleged victims now move toward discovery, which usually involves motions seeking priests’ personnel files and parish records, and depositions from the archdiocesan hierarchy, said Adam Horowitz, a Miami lawyer representing a group of plaintiffs.
Under state law, such civil suits against an institution generally must be filed within two years of the alleged abuse.
But Tom Roberts, a Denver lawyer representing another group of accusers, said he will argue that his clients only found out about other allegations against the priests in media reports last year and that the two-year clock started ticking then.
Staff writer Eric Gorski can be reached at 303-820-1698 or egorski@denverpost.com.
