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  Another Sex Abuse Suit Filed

WAVE [Louisville KY]
Downloaded June 5, 2003

(LOUISVILLE, June 4th, 2003, 5 p.m.) -- Another sexual abuse suit has been filed against a Louisville Catholic priest, one day after Archbishop Thomas Kelly attended the opening round of negotiations aimed at settling hundreds of lawsuits accusing the church of concealing decades of sexual abuse.

In Wednesday's suit, the Rev. Joseph Rives is accused of sexual abuse in 1962. Linda Epperson filed the suit against Rives for allegedly abusing her while she was a 12-year-old student at St. Francis in Louisville.

Cecelia Price, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese said Rives was a pastor at the church and died in 1971.

The suit claims that the church officials knew of the abuse and took no action.

Earlier this month, Tonya Blatz Francis claimed she was abused by Rives at St. Francis of Rome Church in 1962.

Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville and nearly 250 alleged victims met in a downtown office Tuesday for the first of several scheduled mediation sessions aimed at reaching an out-of-court settlement.

 
 

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