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Outagamie County Circuit Judge Nancy Krueger denied a motion by the diocese for dismissal of the suit.
Records show Todd and Troy Merryfield were abused by a priest, John Patrick Feeney, in 1978 when they were parishioners at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom. They were 12 and 14 at the time.
Feeney, who was later defrocked, was convicted in 2004 of sexually assaulting the two and is serving a 15-year prison term. He turns 82 on Jan. 1.
Krueger held that the lawsuit met the legal test established by a state Supreme Court decision in 2007.
The high court’s decision allows victims of priest abuse to sue under fraud statutes outside the normal six-year statute of limitations if they can show they were unaware of the fraud until it was discovered at a later date.
In this case, the fraud is the alleged failure to inform St. Nicholas Catholic Church of Feeney’s past, including church-ordered sexual abuse counseling.
“The placement of Father Feeney was and is of itself a misrepresentation by the diocese,” Krueger said, “and that Father Feeney was suitable to be placed and work with children and essentially that action was an affirmative representation by the diocese.”
Attorney Patrick Brennan, who represents the diocese, argued that the suit was filed past the statute of limitations and did not specify exact names and dates of those who participated in the cover-up of Feeney’s past.
In her ruling, Krueger said that level of detail was not necessary to meet the legal test.
The Merryfields were not in the courtroom to hear the decision.
