John Doe

1 V. ARCHDIOCESE OF MILWAUKEE 734 N.W.2d 827 (2007)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Three lawsuits were consolidated against D. All were dismissed for failure to state a claim. The complaints were nearly identical. They allege that from 1973 to 1976, when they were children, a now-deceased Roman Catholic priest, Siegfried Widera, abused them sexually after he had been criminally convicted of sexually molesting another child and that D knew of his conviction. It was after Widera's criminal conviction that D moved Widera from a parish in Port Washington, Wisconsin, to St. Andrew's Parish in Delavan, Wisconsin, where Widera molested Ps. D also was informed that Widera sexually molested an altar boy at St. Andrew's Parish and confronted Widera, who admitted he had made 'a slip.' D agreed it would 'try to keep the lid on the thing, so no police record would be made' and also that it knew the mother of the boy 'feared reprisals from Church if she would go to police.' Subsequently, in 1976, D transferred Widera to California. D told Widera to tell people in Delavan that he was going on vacation rather than telling the truth. Widera molested numerous boys after his transfer to California. Ps claimed negligent supervision. Ps also claimed fraud because D 'knew that Siegfried Widera had a history of sexually molesting children and that he was a danger to children,' but notwithstanding that knowledge, D: (1) affirmatively represented that it 'did not know that Siegfried Widera had a history of molesting children' and 'did not know that Siegfried Widera was a danger to children'; and (2) failed to disclose its knowledge of Widera's history of sexually molesting children. Ps claimed they did not discover the cover-up until 2004. It was in 2004 that Ps discovered that Widera had been convicted of sexually molesting a minor boy prior to Widera's abuse of them. D moved to dismiss the complaints asserting, among other things, that the claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations. The circuit court agreed. The last sexual assault occurred 29 years before they brought suit. The court of appeals affirmed. Ps appealed.