Judge refuses to dismiss clergy sex-abuse case
By The Associated Press
05.10.02
BOSTON — A motion by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to dismiss a sexual abuse lawsuit on grounds that the church's activities are immune from judicial scrutiny was rejected yesterday.
Middlesex Superior Court Judge Raymond Brassard denied the archdiocese's motion, which was based on the doctrine of separation of church and state contained in the First Amendment, according to a lawyer for the plaintiff.
The ruling came in the case of Paul Busa, whose suit alleges negligence by the archdiocese.
Busa, 24, claims he was sexually abused by retired priest Paul Shanley, who was recently arrested and remained in jail last night.
Busa's allegations prompted criminal charges against Shanley, who is being held on $750,000 cash bail. Shanley, 71, has pleaded innocent to three charges of child rape. Shanley also has been accused of repeated child rape in a civil lawsuit by another man, Gregory Ford, 24, and Ford's parents.
Attorney Roderick MacLeish and Robert A. Sherman represent Busa and the Ford family. Sherman released the court ruling last night.
The judge also denied a request by the archdiocese to immediately report the Busa suit to the state Appeals Court and to stop all further discovery and depositions, Sherman said.
Cardinal Bernard Law is scheduled to be deposed in the Ford case on June 5. Law is scheduled to be deposed today in a separate clergy abuse lawsuit.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Donna Morrissey declined to comment on the ruling.