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Supreme Court rules against men in abuse case

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A lawsuit brought against two Roman Catholic dioceses by five men sexually abused by a Catholic school teacher was dismissed Wednesday by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The men, who were abused in Kentucky, sued the dioceses in Wisconsin claiming they covered up the teacher’s abuse of dozens of children in the 1960s while he taught at Catholic schools in Madison and Milwaukee.

The court, in dismissing the case, said that although the diocese knew about the teacher’s past, its failure to warn potential victims in other states did not constitute negligence.

“Reasonable and ordinary care does not require the Diocese to notify all potential subsequent employers within dioceses and parochial school systems across the country, along with all parents of future unforeseeable victims,” Justice Louis Butler wrote for the court.

Attorneys for the men and the Catholic dioceses did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The men — Kenneth Hornback of Harrison County, Ind., and Dennis L. Bolton, Ronald W. Kuhl, David W. Schaeffer and Glenn M. Bonn, all of Louisville — were among 243 plaintiffs compensated under a $25.7 million church abuse settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville. They were all under age 15 when they were sexually abused by Gary Kazmarek, a Catholic school teacher and coach in Louisville, between 1968 and 1973.

Kazmarek pleaded guilty in 2003 to sexually abusing the men and is serving a 13-year prison sentence in Kentucky.

After the settlement in Louisville, the men filed the lawsuit in Wisconsin claiming the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Archdiocese of Madison were negligent in failing to contact police or warn employers that Kazmarek was known for sexually abusing children.

The lawsuit alleged that Kazmarek abused more than two dozen children between 1964 and 1966 when he taught at a parish school in Milwaukee.

When the diocese learned of the abuse, church officials told Kazmarek to “leave Milwaukee quietly” despite promises to parents that he would get treatment and never have contact with children again, the lawsuit claimed. Kazmarek then went on to teach at a Catholic school in suburban Madison where he abused up to ten children before moving to Kentucky, the lawsuit said.

The appeals court ruled the lawsuit was barred because the three-year statute of limitations for negligence claims started ticking no later than the last assault more than 40 years ago.

The men argued that they did not learn of the alleged cover-up until 2002, so the statute of limitations should not apply.

The Supreme Court didn’t even get to that issue in the claim against the Madison diocese, saying it was unnecessary to decide because the men failed to state a negligence claim under Wisconsin law upon which they could be granted relief.

The men did not allege that the diocese knew Kazmarek was in Kentucky, still teaching children, or working for a Catholic school, the court said. They also did not allege that the Archdiocese in Louisville ever asked for references or communicated with the diocese in Madison.

If the court found the Madison diocese negligent, employers would have to notify all potential employers and victims for an indefinite period of time, the court said. That would include a wide array of people and “send this court down a slippery slope with no sensible or just stopping point,” Butler wrote.

Because the court was deadlocked 3-3 on the claim against the Milwaukee diocese, the appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit stands. Justices Pat Crooks, Pat Roggensack and Annette Ziegler said they would affirm the ruling, while Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Butler said they would reverse.

Justice David Prosser did not participate in the ruling. He withdrew from the case following reports that while serving as district attorney in Outagamie County in the 1970s he declined to prosecute a priest accused of child molestation.