Missouri Diocese Dismissed From Priest Abuse Lawsuit

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has been removed from a civil lawsuit over alleged child sexual abuse by a priest.

Jackson County Judge Ann Mesle dismissed one count of failure to supervise children and two counts of fraudulent misrepresentation in a lawsuit against the Rev. Michael Tierney. The judge dismissed three similar counts against Tierney but he still faces civil counts of child sexual abuse and battery.

The suit alleges that Tierney abused a 13-year-old boy in the 1970s. Tierney has denied any wrongdoing.

The Kansas City Star reports Mesle said in her three-page order Friday that previous court rulings have explicitly allowed lawsuits only for negligent failure to supervise children, not the intentional failure to supervise that was alleged in the lawsuit.