Appeals Court rejects failure to oversee the suit against the diocese for abuse victim

In D.T. v.Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph, (CA. MO, November 12, 2013), a Court of appeals of the State of Missouri upheld the dismissal of claims against a Catholic Diocese by the plaintiff who was sexually abused by a priest who serves on one of their parishes. The lawsuit alleges that the diocese knew that the priest had sexually had abused children in the past and who knew that it was substantially certain that it could disturb other children in the future.  Based on the decision of the Supreme Court of Missouri in Gibson 1997 v. Brewer, the Court of Appeal held that claims based on negligence against the diocese are excluded by the first amendment because encourage them leads to excessive entanglement.  Also, reluctantly, he dismissed claims of intentional failure to supervise clergy because in Gibson, a diocese could be responsible in these cases only when the abuse occurred on property belonging to the diocese. The Court of appeal said that it is bound by the precedent of the State Supreme Court, despite the questionable results produced in this case:

Taken to the extreme, then, a religious organization could be fully aware that a member of their clergy, when placed near children, certain or substantially certain that sexually abused children; but while encouraged his clergy to take their personal crime trends local is not owned, possessed or controlled by the Church and not use a piece of furniture of the Church in the Commission of the harmful and often criminal actionsThere could be no civil liability for intentional breach of supervision. 

Result seems to contradict the spirit and intent of the intentional tort recognized and announced by the Court of Gibson... Perhaps this is a case that our Supreme Court may want to accept transfer to clarify the application of the elements of the tort of intentional failure to supervise clergy than previously announced in Gibson, particularly to light the fact that both resets (second) of Agency and grievances have been reviewed since Gibson was decided.

AP reports on the decision.