The Catholic Diocese of Belleville argues that despite claims of a repressed memory, a lawsuit accusing a former priest of sexual assault should be barred by the statute of limitations.
Plaintiff John Doe filed his original complaint against The Catholic Diocese of Belleville in July 2019.
The defendant responded by filing a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the statute of limitations began to accrue when Doe reached the age of maturity in 1999. The Diocese argues that the suit then became time-barred two years later in 2001.
Doe filed an amended complaint on Oct. 4, 2019.
According to the complaint, Doe alleges Joseph Schwaegel abused him when he was six years old at Catholic Grade School in Belleville some time after August 1987. Schwaegel, who had been an ordained Roman Catholic priest and died in 2016, was allegedly a senior member of the Diocese at the time and was involved in investigations of sexual misconduct by other clergy.
Schwaegel is accused of first gaining Doe’s trust, then taking him out of class and abusing him on property owned by the Diocese.
Doe claims the Diocese failed to prevent Schwaegel from being alone with children and failed to monitor and supervise his activities.
Doe’s lawsuit is the second to accuse Schwaegel of allegedly abusing minors. The first was filed in 1999 and was settled out of court.
Schwaegel, who was removed from ministry in 1994, admitted publicly that he was a “sex addict” but denied any inappropriate sexual behavior involving minors.
The complaint also alleges that Schwaegel was involved in covering up the activities of Raymond Kownacki.
Schwaegel was a witness in a civil suit trial involving Kownacki and against the Diocese. James Wisniewski of Champaign accused Kownacki of abusing him over a five year period in the 1970s.
During the trial, it emerged that in 1988 senior clergy knew of numerous allegations linked to Kownacki, including that he raped a 16-year-old girl and molested twin boys in Guatemala, one of whom he allegedly brought back to Illinois.
Schwaegel, who was named monsignor in the 1970s, was a one time rector of Belleville’s St. Peter’s Cathedral and superintendent of Cathedral Grade School.
The Catholic Diocese of Belleville filed a motion to strike immaterial matter from the first amended complaint on Sept. 17 through attorney Catherine Schroeder of St. Louis.
The defendant argues that the amended complaint seeks to avoid the statute of limitations by contending that Doe had ‘repressed [his] memory’ of the alleged abuse until June 2013.
“Even in its amended form, however, the Complaint improperly alleges that Schwaegel and the Diocese ‘were aware of’ and ‘took efforts to conceal’ allegations of childhood sexual abuse leveled against other priests, ‘including but not limited to the sexual abuse of children committed by the now-laicized Raymond Kownacki.’
“Because this allegation is wholly unrelated to Plaintiff’s negligence claim in this case, and is unfairly prejudicial, it should be stricken from the Complaint,” the motion states.
The Diocese also answered the complaint on Sept. 17, denying the allegations against it.
According to its affirmative defenses, the defendant argues that it never had reasonable cause to believe that Doe was allegedly abused by Schwaegel. Additionally, if Schwaegel’s actions are established, they constitute “personal criminal misconduct of a third party for which the Diocese is not liable as a matter of law.”
The Diocese argues that the complaint should be barred because the alleged abuse constitutes actions that would be outside the scope of Schwaegel’s authority, would not be assigned activities, would not be motivated by a purpose to serve the Diocese and were not related to his job responsibilities with the Diocese.
The defendant also argues that the claims should still be barred by the statute of limitations.
Doe filed a reply to the defendants’ affirmative defenses on Sept. 28 through attorney Gregory Shevlin of Cook Bartholomew Shevlin Cook & Jones LLP in Belleville, denying each and every allegation.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 19-L-507