United States Sixth Circuit
O'Bryan v. Holy See, 075078, 075163
In a class action suit against defendant-Holy See for claims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, partial grant of defendant's motion to dismiss is affirmed where: 1) plaintiffs' response to the defendant's First Amendment challenges could not preserve plaintiffs' own Establishment Clause claim; 2) plaintiffs waived their constitutional challenges to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA); 3) the district court correctly applied the FSIA's burden shifting process; 4) the portions of plaintiffs' claims that were based upon the conduct of bishops, archbishops and Holy See personnel while supervising allegedly abusive clergy satisfied all four requirements of the tortious act exception; 5) plaintiffs' claims of violation of customary international law of human rights, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty should not be dismissed for 'arising out of...misrepresentation [or] deceit'; and 6) the last two claims advanced by plaintiffs were dismissed for arising out of misrepresentation or deceit.
Appellate Information
- Decided 11/24/2008
- Published 11/24/2008
Judges
Court
- United States Sixth Circuit