The Moar you know ….
Judge Mosman (CP FISA Fame)
Vatican employer case (2012)
See also: United States District Court for the District of Oregon (John V. Doe v. The Holy See, et al., Case No. CV 02-430-MO)
Judge Mosman ruled that the Vatican is not the employer of Catholic priests, rendering alleged sexual abuse victims unable to pursue claims against the Vatican for financial damages due to actions of Catholic priests.[7] Judge Mosman handed down the ruling on August 20, 2012, in the last remaining major U.S. sex abuse case against the Vatican. Cases filed against the Vatican in Kentucky and Wisconsin were dropped in previous years.[8]
The case, Doe v. See, centered primarily on whether or not an employee-employer relationship existed between the Vatican and Fr. Andrew Ronan. The plaintiff, identified only as John V. Doe in court documents, alleged that Fr. Ronan sexually assaulted him in the 1960s in Portland, Oregon.[7] Ronan died in 1992, leaving Doe able only to pursue claims against The Vatican, the diocese of Portland, and the Archdiocese of Chicago; the latter two cases were previously dismissed.[9]
In 2006, Judge Mosman ruled that Doe’s case against the Vatican could proceed, but his attorneys would be required to prove that the Vatican was indeed Ronan’s employer.[7] Mosman’s 2012 ruling, however, ended Doe’s case. Instead of an employer-employee relationship, Mosman found that the relationship was more akin to that of the Oregon State Bar, which has control over attorneys only through sanctions and disbarment. Neither the Oregon Bar or the Vatican actually has the ability to fire a member of their organizations.[9]