PA High Court Deals Blow to Victims of Child Sexual Abuse

Pennsylvania’s high court today dealt a blow to victims of child sexual abuse, throwing out a lawsuit by a woman whose lower court legal victory had given hope to others with similarly outdated claims who’d sued in the wake of a landmark report that documented decades of child molestation within the Catholic church in Pennsylvania. The 5-2 decision ended plaintiff Renee Rice’s legal effort to recover damages from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown for allegedly covering up and facilitating sexual abuse she said had been inflicted on her by a priest in the late 1970s.