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October 16th, 2007, 02:08 PM
Suit Dismissed Against Mexican Cardinal
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - A judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday against Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who had been accused of conspiring with Roman Catholic officials in the United States to transfer a priest accused of sexual abuse between the two countries.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle found Rivera could not be held accountable in a U.S. court because the plaintiff didn't have enough evidence against him, said Mike Finnegan, the plaintiff's attorney.
"It was a legal technicality," he said. "It didn't reach any of the merits of the case and it didn't get to the key issues in the case, which is Cardinal Rivera's complicity in sending (the priest) to the United States as a child molester."
Michael Cypers, an attorney representing the cardinal in Los Angeles, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Plaintiff Joaquin Aguilar Mendez, 26, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that Rivera, who was then a bishop in Puebla state, knew that the priest had molested children when he sent him to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The priest, Aguilar Rivera, is no relation to the cardinal or the plaintiff.
In a declaration filed in February, the cardinal said he sent a letter to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1987 warning him that the priest had "homosexual problems." A spokesman for the Los Angeles archdiocese has said the U.S. cardinal never received it.
The priest fled to Mexico after he was accused of sexual abuse in Los Angeles and before police could begin an investigation. He has since been charged in California with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child.
The priest continued to serve in Mexico. The plaintiff, now 26, filed a lawsuit about a year ago alleging that the priest raped him in his room at the rectory when he was about 12 years old. The boy was told by the priest to keep quiet about what happened or his siblings would suffer the same abuse, according to the lawsuit.
While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify people who allege sexual abuse, Mendez chose to come forward with his story.
The priest's whereabouts are currently unknown, Finnegan said.
Mahony, the Los Angeles cardinal, settled his portion of the lawsuit in July when the archdiocese agreed to pay more than 500 alleged victims of sex abuse $660 million, archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said.
Any allegations of conspiracy against Mahony are outrageous, he added.
"We maintain that it was a ridiculous charge of conspiracy. The decision doesn't change our opinion that this was an absolutely spurious lawsuit," Tamberg said.
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - A judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday against Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who had been accused of conspiring with Roman Catholic officials in the United States to transfer a priest accused of sexual abuse between the two countries.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle found Rivera could not be held accountable in a U.S. court because the plaintiff didn't have enough evidence against him, said Mike Finnegan, the plaintiff's attorney.
"It was a legal technicality," he said. "It didn't reach any of the merits of the case and it didn't get to the key issues in the case, which is Cardinal Rivera's complicity in sending (the priest) to the United States as a child molester."
Michael Cypers, an attorney representing the cardinal in Los Angeles, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Plaintiff Joaquin Aguilar Mendez, 26, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that Rivera, who was then a bishop in Puebla state, knew that the priest had molested children when he sent him to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The priest, Aguilar Rivera, is no relation to the cardinal or the plaintiff.
In a declaration filed in February, the cardinal said he sent a letter to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1987 warning him that the priest had "homosexual problems." A spokesman for the Los Angeles archdiocese has said the U.S. cardinal never received it.
The priest fled to Mexico after he was accused of sexual abuse in Los Angeles and before police could begin an investigation. He has since been charged in California with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child.
The priest continued to serve in Mexico. The plaintiff, now 26, filed a lawsuit about a year ago alleging that the priest raped him in his room at the rectory when he was about 12 years old. The boy was told by the priest to keep quiet about what happened or his siblings would suffer the same abuse, according to the lawsuit.
While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify people who allege sexual abuse, Mendez chose to come forward with his story.
The priest's whereabouts are currently unknown, Finnegan said.
Mahony, the Los Angeles cardinal, settled his portion of the lawsuit in July when the archdiocese agreed to pay more than 500 alleged victims of sex abuse $660 million, archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said.
Any allegations of conspiracy against Mahony are outrageous, he added.
"We maintain that it was a ridiculous charge of conspiracy. The decision doesn't change our opinion that this was an absolutely spurious lawsuit," Tamberg said.