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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer of WWL Louisiana in New Orleans

Louisiana Catholic church turns to federal court to attack law aiding abuse victims

the exterior of a large church surrounded by greenery
St Louis Cathedral in New Orleans in 2021. Photograph: Dukas/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Months after Louisiana’s supreme court upheld the constitutionality of a state law that let child molestation victims sue for long-ago abuse, despite arguments to the contrary by a Roman Catholic diocese, another church organization is asking the federal government to strike the statute down.

Behind the request in question are the Dominican Sisters of Peace and a law firm that boasts about having represented Catholic institutions in Louisiana courts for more than a century. Another of the law firm’s clients in question, the archdiocese of New Orleans, is offering clergy molestation victims less than 10% of what they are requesting in a bankruptcy settlement, in part by arguing the so-called “look-back window” law doesn’t apply to more than 600 abuse claims.

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