Court asked to reinstate abuse suit at Indian school

By Chet Brokaw
Associated Press

PIERRE - The South Dakota Supreme Court is being asked to reinstate a lawsuit that alleges former students were abused at an American Indian boarding school in eastern South Dakota.

Circuit Judge Bradley Zell of Sioux Falls dismissed the lawsuit earlier this year, ruling that former students at St. Paul's School in Marty waited too long to sue the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls and the religious organizations that ran the school several decades ago.

A similar lawsuit also was filed in state court in Rapid City by former students of the St. Francis Mission School on Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. That case is continuing after a change of lawyers.

A federal lawsuit was filed in 2003 by lawyer Jeffrey M. Herman of Miami, who later also filed the two state-court lawsuits. Herman has now withdrawn, and the cases are being handled by Gregory A. Yates of Encino, Calif., a lawyer who is best-known for winning lawsuits that alleged misconduct by the Los Angeles Police Department.

The federal lawsuit had sought $25 billion in damages from the federal government for the alleged mental, physical and sexual abuse of students at boarding schools. The schools were run by religious organizations from the late 1800s or early 1900s until the 1970s, when most were closed or transferred to tribal control.

A judge in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington dismissed the federal lawsuit in 2004, saying that before the issue could be considered in court, the former students first had to seek a remedy by filing a claim directly with federal agencies.

Gary Frischer of Los Angeles, a consultant who has worked on the lawsuits since the legal effort started, said the federal lawsuit is not being actively pursued, which means the federal government is no longer a defendant.

The legal effort now is focused on the lawsuits filed in state courts, he said.

"These are being pursued very strenuously at this point by Gregory Yates," Frischer said.

The lawsuits filed in state courts in Sioux Falls and Rapid City allege that the religious organizations were negligent in hiring, retaining and supervising staff at the schools. They also argue the organizations failed to protect students from abuse or investigate misconduct at the schools.

The state court lawsuit involving St. Paul's School in Marty seeks damages from the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls; Blue Cloud Abbey of northeastern South Dakota; Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, based in Pennsylvania; and Oblate Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament of Marty.

Judge Zell ruled that the students failed to present evidence that they had only discovered their injuries within the three years before the filing of their lawsuit.

The former students also failed to present evidence showing that the religious organizations knew about the abuse and tried to conceal it or that the organizations prevented the students from disclosing any abuse by placing them in fear of eternal damnation, the judge said.

The lawsuit dealing with the St. Francis school names the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City; the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus; the Franciscan Sisters of Penance and Christian Charity of Stella Niagra, N.Y.; and School Sisters of St. Francis.