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Judge: Mexican man can file clergy suit in US
AJC ^ | February 28, 2011 | GILLIAN FLACCUS

Posted on 02/28/2011 3:02:45 PM PST by Hoodat

LOS ANGELES — A Mexico City man can proceed with a clergy abuse lawsuit filed in U.S. court against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, even though the alleged abuse occurred in Mexico and the priest and plaintiff are Mexican citizens, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton Tucker on Friday denied a motion from church attorneys who had sought dismissal of the case by arguing U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction.

Michael Hennigan, an attorney for the archdiocese, said the case has no merit and would ultimately be dismissed.

The unusual lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 and alleges that recently retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony and his counterpart in the Mexican Diocese of Tehuacan conspired to protect the priest and help him avoid authorities on both sides of the border.

-snip-

Aguilar Rivera was defrocked in 2009 and remains at large in Mexico, where he was believed to be living out of his car in Puebla, in central Mexico. He has been wanted by U.S. authorities on 19 felony counts of lewd conduct since he returned to Mexico.

The ruling in Los Angeles could allow more of Mexican plaintiffs who allege abuse by Aguilar Rivera to file lawsuits in U.S. courts, Anderson said.

"This does open a door that has never been opened before," he said.

The judge was not required to consider the facts of the case when making her ruling about jurisdiction and limited her analysis to a narrow range of legal issues, Hennigan said. Church attorneys will file new court papers seeking dismissal on other legal grounds, he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: constitution; judicialfiat
Article III, Sec. 2:

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

So much for the Constitution.

1 posted on 02/28/2011 3:02:50 PM PST by Hoodat
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To: Hoodat

LA has deeper pockets...


2 posted on 02/28/2011 3:04:14 PM PST by kearnyirish2
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To: Hoodat

Then can I sue Obama in, say, Cabo San Lucas, and get a court order for him to cough up his birth certificate?


3 posted on 02/28/2011 3:05:39 PM PST by MeganC (Soli Deo Gloria)
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To: Hoodat
Tucker, Josephine Staton
Born 1961 in St. Louis, MO

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Central District of California
Nominated by Barack Obama on February 4, 2010, to a seat vacated by Alicemarie H. Stotler; Confirmed by the Senate on June 21, 2010, and received commission on June 22, 2010.

Education:
William Jewell College, B.A., 1983
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1986

Professional Career:
Law clerk to the Hon. John R. Gibson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1986-1987
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1987-1994
Private practice, Irvine, California, 1995-2002
Judge, Superior Court of California, County of Orange, 2002-2010

4 posted on 02/28/2011 3:09:10 PM PST by SmithL
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To: Hoodat

No wonder Cardinal Mahoney likes illegal immigration. That is where the boys are.


5 posted on 02/28/2011 3:10:49 PM PST by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: Hoodat; MeganC

I hope Mahony can be sued as a private citizen (he retired as of yesterday). He was responsible for all this, and yes, somebody should sue him. And put him in jail.

This child molester was either his boyfriend or a boyfriend of his boyfriend. Either way, Mahony got him out of the country fast and dumped him back in Mexico...where he continued to do what he had been doing here.


6 posted on 02/28/2011 3:12:10 PM PST by livius
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To: Hoodat
I think this suit is alleging that Mahooney acted in the US to conceal what had happened in Mexico, from authorities. Essentially engaging in obstruction of justice within US borders. Clearly, if true (and I'm not saying it is) the acts occurred in the US, the question is if Mahooney did anything to obstruct justice by hiding evidence or misleading authorities or conspiring to do so. A very early ruling that does seem all that shocking and shouldn't be interpreted to indicate this case may not be booted out very soon on a summary judgment motion.
7 posted on 02/28/2011 3:16:12 PM PST by circlecity
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To: Hoodat
The unusual lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 and alleges that recently retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony and his counterpart in the Mexican Diocese of Tehuacan conspired to protect the priest and help him avoid authorities on both sides of the border.

This appears to be the link that ties in Mahoney Baloney and by respondeat superior (sp?), his local employer, the L.A. diocese. Perhaps the RCC has gotten more guff as a whole than it deserves for clergy abuse issues, but just about everyone acknowledges that Mahoney is radioactive. If this twisted priest visited Mahoney and Mahoney helped him hide, then hands are not clean on the U.S. side of the border.

8 posted on 02/28/2011 3:16:52 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Hawk)
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To: Hoodat

You should have quoted the Tort Clams Act, That fall under Art two.


9 posted on 02/28/2011 3:28:10 PM PST by Domangart
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To: Hoodat
Article III, Sec. 2: The Trial of all Crimes,

Article III, section 2, deals with venue (the place of trial) in criminal cases only. This is a civil case. There are statutes about venue in civil cases, but the Constitution does not directly address that subject.

10 posted on 02/28/2011 3:32:12 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Hoodat

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just extradite Cardinal Mahoney to Mexico? He is a traitor to this nation anyway, so just strip him of his citizenship and off he go to Me-hi-co.


11 posted on 02/28/2011 3:38:13 PM PST by montag813 (http://www.facebook.com/StandWithArizona)
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To: Hoodat

Do you think the Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional?


12 posted on 02/28/2011 3:47:50 PM PST by Mr. Lucky
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To: Hoodat

This judge is a complete *!*!@#*.


13 posted on 02/28/2011 3:53:27 PM PST by Ratman83
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To: Hoodat
U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton

There is no room for a one world-er judge in the US. Remove her based on her breaking her oath of office.

14 posted on 02/28/2011 3:55:56 PM PST by drypowder
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To: Hoodat
"So much for the Constitution"

Not even relevant, this is a civil case for money, not a criminal charge

15 posted on 02/28/2011 4:57:16 PM PST by Lloyd227 (Class of 1998 (let's all help the Team McCain spider monkeys decide how to moderate))
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To: forgotten man
Apparently so.

It couldn't happen to be bigger, open borders louse, IMO.

16 posted on 02/28/2011 5:09:33 PM PST by OddLane
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To: kearnyirish2
LA has deeper pockets...

Yeah, that's what I figured.

17 posted on 02/28/2011 8:02:39 PM PST by SuziQ
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