Dismissal of lawsuit against diocese upheld

By KIRK LOGGINS
For The Tennessean

'90s molestation cases not Nashville church's fault

A state appeals court yesterday upheld the dismissal of lawsuits in which two boys tried to hold the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville liable for former priest Edward McKeown molesting them — several years after he left the priesthood.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals said that Davidson County Circuit Judge Walter Kurtz was right when he ruled in June 2001 that the sexual abuse of the two boys in 1994-98 came too long after McKeown was forced to leave the priesthood in 1989 to hold the church accountable for his actions.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals noted that the two boys, who were not Catholic, met McKeown as a neighbor in a mobile home community, ''not through any church-related activities or functions.'' That fact, and the long time lapse involved, ''distinguish this case from other recent lawsuits filed against religious organizations arising from the acts of pedophile clergy or employees,'' the Court of Appeals said, in an opinion written by Judge Patricia Cottrell.

Attorney John Day, lead counsel for the two boys, said he will recommend that the two, now 20 and 21, ask the Tennessee Supreme Court to overturn yesterday's ruling by the Court of Appeals.

''We are disappointed but not surprised by this decision,'' Day said. ''We always knew that the Tennessee Supreme Court would have the ultimate decision in this case.''

Day said the underlying legal issue in the courts' dismissal of the boys' lawsuits is that ''Tennessee law on imposing responsibility is lagging behind common-sense notions of morality. Most people would think that there should be some positive nexus between morality and legal responsibility.''

Kurtz ruled in November 2000 that the two boys could not recover damages from the diocese based on the alleged failure of church officials to report McKeown to law enforcement authorities when they learned in the 1980s that he had molested two boys several years earlier.

Day and his colleagues then refocused their lawsuits under the legal theory of ''outrageous conduct causing emotional distress.'' They alleged that their two clients would not have been molested in the 1990s if church officials had investigated McKeown more aggressively in the 1980s. Day pointed to McKeown's admission in 1986, during treatment required by the church, that he had molested about 30 boys over the previous 14 years.

McKeown's sexual misconduct did not become public knowledge until one of Day's clients accused him of rape in 1999.

The mother of the other boy who filed suit complained to Metro police about McKeown in 1995, but no charges resulted from that investigation.

McKeown, who became a priest in 1970, is serving a 25-year prison sentence for molesting one of Day's clients, beginning when that boy was 12. McKeown is 59.

Church officials have said, since the two boys sued the diocese in 2000, that they ''acted to follow the law and the best medical advice of the time'' once they learned in the 1980s that McKeown had molested boys he met through the priesthood.

Rick Musacchio, communication director for the Diocese of Nashville, said that church officials were pleased by yesterday's ruling.

''We continue to pray for the healing of all who have been involved in these matters.''

Each of the two boys who sued the diocese over being molested by McKeown is seeking $8 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages.

Day said that he and his colleagues ''have received lots of calls from victims of pedophile priests, but Tennessee's statute of limitations has prohibited us from representing any of those people.''

State law requires that a civil damage suit be filed within one year of a wrongful act or, if the victim is a minor, within one year after he or she turns 18.

''Many of these things happened 20, 30, 40 years ago,'' Day said.