In Buncome County, a Catholic music minister has been charged with repeatedly molesting a young girl from the congregation. While he will face his own charges, the family of this victim has also chosen to sue the Catholic Church that they attend. They believe that it is the religious group’s duty to protect the members from sexual predators, yet they allowed the music manner to carry on with his practice and look the other way. Supposedly, they knew about the molestations but were not active in addressing the situation.
The North Carolina law allows that certain cases are “exceptional” especially when they involved complex legal issues. In this situation, the judge of the court has appointed a special judge to take his place that better understands Catholicism and can make a more informed decision on the settlement. The lawsuit was originally filed in July of 2010 by the parents of the girl who was assaulted. The Catholic Church has been constantly under the microscope for issues like this one, and a diocese in Pennsylvania is currently involved in a raging lawsuit for the same sort of negligence charges.
In this North Carolina case, the parents claim that the church hired and protected a sexual predator and allowed the music minister to molest this child. The diocese has denied allegations. All lawyers were able to agree that having one judge who could specialize in the case would eventually benefit everyone in the trial. This case involved very sensitive issues and details many of the psychological and economic damages that the assaults had on the daughter.
The case may seriously affect the Diocese of Charlotte. If you have been sexually assaulted and a company or religious organization ignored your complaints, then contact a personal injury attorney right away. You need to fight for your rights in this case so that you will not be made to suffer financially for the traumatic experiences that you were forced to endure.