US Catholic priest awarded damages over sex abuse claims

Minnesota priest sets 'new legal precedent' by winning case against man who jury agrees falsely accused him

A jury in the port city of Duluth, in the U.S. state of Minnesota, awarded damages to a priest in August who it deemed had been falsely accused of sex abuse by a former student at a Catholic high school in the 1970s.

The man, who was not named, had accused Father William Graham of "inappropriate sexual conduct" from 1977-78 at Cathedral High School (since renamed Marshall School), a Catholic-run high school in Duluth.

This caused the priest considerable loss of earnings and stained his reputation, but he would have been satisfied with an apology, said lawyer Mic Puklich, according to Business Wire.

As this was not forthcoming, Father Graham pressed ahead with the civil law case, which saw the defendant ordered to pay him US$13,500 in compensation, possibly setting a new legal precedent.

"A priest going on the offensive to clear his name from being falsely accused of sexual abuse – and winning in court. Now that's rare, if not unprecedented," said Puklich, a partner at local law firm Neaton & Puklich.

The jury delivered its verdict on Aug. 23.

Puklich said this was an important case as it bucked the trend of priests being considered "guilty until proven innocent" amid a spate of clerical sex abuse scandals that have rocked several U.S. states and boroughs including Boston and Pennsylvania this year.

"The Church's response to child abuse and sexual misconduct has been abhorrent, and while the guilty must be punished and the victims provided a chance to heal and find some form of justice; we, as a society, must also hold those who make false allegations accountable, we fail when the truth becomes optional," Puklich told the media.

The Catholic Diocese of Duluth put Father Graham on administrative leave from his position as a pastor at St. Michael's Catholic Church upon learning of the accusations, meaning he was not able to return to work since May 2016.

Puklich said each case must be judged on its merits, rather than succumbing to the growing anti-Church fever sweeping the country.

"I don't know how many other Father Grahams are out there – members of the Catholic clergy falsely accused of abuse – but I suspect there are some, perhaps even in Minnesota," he said.

"If so, let them take heart from the way the justice system worked for Father Graham."