We are looking to build a case law database on the issue of child sexual abuse and religious institutions that lawyers, victims and support groups can use as a free resource. Below is a small snapshot of significant legal challenges on this issue.
Details of further court cases can be found in our preliminary report mapping the global scale of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
We will continue to update this page with links to case summaries in our legal database, so please email us with suggested cases or use #HolySeeConfess.
If you are a lawyer who has worked on similar cases, or would like to, please email us so that we can include your name and contact details in our network of legal professionals.
- Conti v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York (2015) (duty to warn congregation members and parents about prior sexual abuse in the United States)
- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests v. Joyce et al (2015) (freedom of speech and protesting outside places of worship in the United States)
- O'Keeffe v. Ireland (2014) (liability of the Irish State for sexual abuse committed by a teacher at a Roman Catholic school)
- Twersky et al v. Yeshiva University et al (2014) (limitaiton periods in sexual abuse cases in the United States)
- Fontaine v. Attorney General of Canada et al (2014) (disclosure of documents gather in police investigations into child abuse in Canada)
- Doe v. Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolos (2014) (public nuisance and negligence liability in sexual abuse cases in the United States)
- Bishop of the Catholic Church of Puerto Rico v. Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico (2014) (right to privacy, freedom of rleigion and confessional privilege in sexual abuse cases in Puerto Rico)
- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests v. the Pope et al (2013) (liability for sexual violence as a crime against humanity under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court)
- Catholic Child Welfare Society v. Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (2012) (liability of a religious organisation for sexual abuse by its members in the United Kingdom)
- JGE v. The Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust (2012) (liability of the Church for sexual abuse committed by a priest in the United Kingdom)
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William J. Lynn (2013) (criminal liability of a Catholic church official for child sexual abuse by clergy in the United States)
- Juan Doe I v. Cardinal Roger Mahony, et al. (2011) (liability of a priest, cardinals and church dioceses in the United States and Mexico for child sexual abuse under the US Alien Tort Statute)
- Joaquin M. v. Cardinal Norberto Rivera, et al. (2009) (jurisidiction of US courts over a foreign Catholic priest in an action brought by a foreign plaintiff for child sexual abuse that occurred abroad)
- Doe v. Holy See et al (2009) (liability of the Holy See for sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest in the United States)
- O’Bryan, et al. v. Holy See (2008) (liability of the Holy See for child sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic clergy in the United States)
- Doe v. Bennett (2004) (liability of religious corporations for sexual abuse by clergy in Canada)
- Archdiocese of Milwaukee v. Superior Court (2003) (liability of a church diocese for transferring a priest inter-state without disclosing the priest's prior conviction for child sexual abuse in the United States)