Houllahan v. Gelineau
| Docket Number | 2021-32-Appeal,2021-33-Appeal,2021-41-Appeal |
| Decision Date | 30 June 2023 |
| Parties | Robert Houllahan v. Louis E. Gelineau et al. Peter Cummings v. Louis E. Gelineau et al. Philip Edwardo v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence et al. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
Superior Court Providence County (PC 20-2010), (PC 19-10530) (PC 19-9894) Associate Justice Netti C. Vogel
For Plaintiffs: Timothy J. Conlon, Esq.
For Defendants: Howard Merten, Esq. Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Robinson, and Long, JJ.
This Court is confronted with another amendment of the General Laws, which, it is alleged, breathes new life into previously time-barred lawsuits against Bishop Louis E. Gelineau, Bishop Thomas Tobin, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence, a Corporation Sole, and several additional corporate defendants.
These consolidated cases came before the Supreme Court on February 1, 2023, on appeal by plaintiffs, Robert Houllahan, Peter Cummings, and Philip Edwardo (Houllahan, Cummings, Edwardo, or collectively, plaintiffs) challenging the dismissal of all claims in favor of defendants, Louis E. Gelineau; the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence, a Corporation Sole (RCB); Thomas Tobin; St. Joseph's Church Providence Rhode Island; Bishop McVinney Regional School, Alias, Successor to Catholic Association for Regional Education; St. Anthony Church Corporation North Providence; John/Jane Doe 1-250; and XYZ Corporations 1-250 (defendants) in accordance with Rule 12(b)(6) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure.
On appeal, plaintiffs allege that the trial court erred in ruling that G.L. 1956 § 9-1-51 (the act), as amended, created a class of criminal actors beyond the scope of actual perpetrators as set forth in the act. The plaintiffs also urge this Court to abrogate its prior holding in the leading case of Kelly v. Marcantonio, 678 A.2d 873 (R.I. 1996), and its progeny, that serves to bar recovery against those whose conduct, plaintiffs submit, rises to the level of criminality. The plaintiffs also contend that the trial court erred in overlooking a single claim by plaintiff Edwardo that is based on New York law. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the decision of the Superior Court in all respects.
The plaintiffs in the cases at bar filed separate Superior Court actions alleging that they were sexually molested as minors by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence (Diocese). We address each plaintiff's allegations in turn.[1]
Robert Houllahan was born in the late 1960s to a devout Roman Catholic family. He became acquainted with Normand Demers offending priest, in his capacity as a diocesan priest at St. Joseph's Church. Demers engaged in a relationship with Houllahan, which included religious instruction and training, spiritual guidance, and socialization. The plaintiff alleges that, at some point in 1976, he was molested by Demers and another man in Demers's private quarters above the parish rectory. While in the rectory, Houllahan took note of several children from Central America, some of whom were living in the rectory at the time. For over twenty years, Houllahan was unable to speak of his abuse at the hands of Demers.
Houllahan asserted that in the late 1970s, church officials were aware that Demers was bringing boys to the United States from Central America for the purpose of sexual molestation. Demers eventually was arrested in 1989, in Haiti, after the director of an orphanage, with which Demers and the hierarchal defendants in this case were associated, learned that he was molesting boys at the facility. The plaintiff alleges that Bishop Gelineau, through his Auxiliary Bishop, Kenneth Angell, promised the orphanage director that Demers would be investigated, prosecuted, and punished in Rhode Island if the director would cooperate in helping to have the charges against him dismissed. According to plaintiff, shortly after Demers's return to Rhode Island, these defendants returned him to service in a parish, describing the original reports as unsubstantiated.
Peter Cummings was born in 1966 to a Roman Catholic family who regularly received sacraments through parishes within the Diocese. As a practicing Roman Catholic, Cummings developed great admiration, trust, reverence, and obedience to Roman Catholic priests, including Reverend John Petrocelli. The plaintiff became acquainted with Petrocelli while a student at Bishop McVinney Regional Elementary School, which he attended from ages nine until thirteen. Petrocelli used his position with the school to initiate and maintain a relationship with Cummings, encouraging him to participate in different activities, including swimming at a local pool. It was after one of these swimming sessions that Petrocelli first sexually assaulted Cummings, taking him in his grasp and indicating that it was very important that he be allowed to show Cummings how to dry his genitals. Although Petrocelli released Cummings when he said no and resisted, he proceeded to fondle himself under a towel while Cummings continued to dry himself. This behavior continued frequently while Cummings attended grade school.
Over a decade later, in 1992, Cummings was hospitalized after suffering a severe psychological episode. He finally was able to speak about the abuse that he suffered at the hands of Petrocelli when he was a child. Cummings contacted the Diocese to alert it of Petrocelli's abuse and was subsequently visited by Auxiliary Bishop Angell. Although Bishop Angell offered to assist Cummings with his treatment, Cummings alleged that Angell failed to acknowledge Petrocelli's history of misconduct, including a complaint recorded months earlier about Petrocelli swimming with young boys.
Philip Edwardo also was born to a devout Roman Catholic family in 1966. Commencing in either 1977 or 1978, Philip Magaldi, pastor of St. Anthony Church, initiated and maintained a relationship with Edwardo as his mentor and confidant through Edwardo's work as an altar boy. Edwardo was a student at St. Thomas Catholic Regional Elementary School, and Magaldi arranged to have Edwardo available to serve Mass. at several funerals each month while he was in school.
In 1979 or 1980, Magaldi learned that Edwardo's mother had developed a serious drinking problem, and that Edwardo's home life was difficult. Magaldi encouraged Edwardo to spend his spare time at St. Anthony's rectory and church while also assisting with different tasks around the church. As Edwardo grew close to the employees of the church, including Magaldi, he eventually was compensated for his work, and Magaldi informed Edwardo's father that Edwardo could stay at the rectory any time he wished.
On occasion, Edwardo slept at the rectory at Magaldi's urging, using a spare bedroom on the second floor. On one occasion in the spring of 1980, Magaldi took Edwardo to lunch in Warwick and then to a spa to use a swimming pool. When Edwardo complained that he did not feel well, Magaldi used this as an excuse to perform a "medical procedure" on Edwardo, but in actuality used the opportunity to sexually assault him. Edwardo did not resist until he became dizzy and vomited.
Later that summer, Magaldi began regularly supplying Edwardo with alcohol. During one incident, after several drinks, Magaldi contrived a medical problem and induced Edwardo to assist him, which again ended in sexual assault. Over the ensuing months, Magaldi became very physical with Edwardo, grabbing his buttocks and genitals whenever the chance arose. When Edwardo attempted to ask Magaldi to stop, Magaldi threatened to tell his father that he had been consuming alcohol. This threat, along with Magaldi's continued attention and gift giving, led to several years of Magaldi's abuse.
Edwardo estimates that he was sexually abused between 100 and 300 times from 1978, when he was twelve years old, until 1983, when he was seventeen years old. Edwardo and Magaldi went on several out-of-state trips throughout this period, including a two-day trip to New Hampshire, and a trip to New York City, where he was supplied with alcohol by Magaldi and molested in his hotel room after he attempted to go to sleep for the night. During this later trip, Magaldi mentioned to Edwardo that Bishop Gelineau was informed about the trip because it was related to his priestly duties.
Edwardo also alleges that he was physically beaten by another priest, at the behest of Magaldi, for withdrawing from their interactions. Once Edwardo was finally able to tell Magaldi to cease his abuse, Magaldi contacted Edwardo's father and fabricated a story about Edwardo stealing money from the church. According to Edwardo, he chose to allow his father to believe Magaldi's allegations rather than disclose the abuse that had occurred.
Edwardo alleges that he was unable to speak of Magaldi's abuse until approximately 2007, when he contacted the Bishop's office to alert them of the abuse; Edwardo was then referred to Robert McCarthy[2] in the Diocese's Office of Compliance. According to Edwardo, he spoke with McCarthy several times and provided a detailed statement outlining the years of abuse that he suffered at the hands of Magaldi.[3]
Bishop Gelineau was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence from 1972 until 1997. In this role, Bishop Gelineau was vested with legislative, executive, and judicial power regarding the governance of the Diocese. Bishop Gelineau was responsible for the "training, hiring, assignment, monitoring and/or supervision of diocesan candidates accepted for admission to the priesthood, seminarians, deacons and priests generally"-including the offending priests. The RCB is the primary corporate entity through...
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