A Sonoma County judge ruled Monday in favor of the Diocese of Santa Rosa and two other defendants in the case of four former Eureka altar boys who claim to have been molested by the Rev. Patrick McCabe in the 1980s.
The tentative ruling from Judge Mark Tansil did not focus on the allegations of abuse, but on the legality of filing the claim and the use of a fraud allegation to seek redress from the church.
Tansil agreed with the diocese that the claims from the former members of St. Bernard's Parish are barred by the statute of limitations, which ends at a person's 26th birthday. The plaintiffs are in their 30s and 40s.
Also, Tansil ruled the plaintiffs could not circumvent the time requirement by claiming fraud on the part of the diocese for allegedly covering up McCabe's history. And he expressed skepticism about any claims against a New Mexico treatment center where McCabe received therapy for pedophilia before being assigned to Eureka.
Tansil suggested postponing a final decision until the California Supreme Court has decided a similar case. If not, he said he would sustain the diocese's challenges.
"The court completely agreed with our position that claims are time-barred no matter what label you put on them," Adrienne Moran, an attorney for the diocese, said Monday. "He is suggesting we wait but saying if we don't he'll rule in our favor."
A lawyer for the Eureka men, Joseph George Jr., said he would withhold any comment until after Tuesday's hearing. Tansil has ordered both sides to appear for argument.
George had previously argued his clients have three years from the time they discovered psychological injury from the abuse to make their claims.
"The judge has ordered us to appear and we will comply to represent these victims of sexual abuse," George said Monday.
The first of the four claims surfaced in August 2010 when a 36-year-old man broke a decades-long silence after reading a newspaper article about McCabe being arrested on unrelated molestation charges.
He sued the diocese, claiming it committed fraud and negligence for hiring the priest despite a history of child molestation allegations against McCabe stretching back to Ireland.
Three more men from St. Bernard's Parish came forward and their lawsuit was amended earlier this year to include the Arch-Diocese of Dublin and the Servants of Peraclete, the clinic that treated McCabe.
McCabe was a priest in St. Bernard Parish from 1983 to 1985 when he was removed after a complaint he had children sit on his knee during confession. He then served briefly at St. Elizabeth Parish in Guerneville before being removed as a priest in 1988.
The 75-year-old was extradited to Ireland earlier this year on charges he molested six boys from 1973 to 1981.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: