The Archdiocese of New York has been removed as a defendant from a lawsuit that accuses a Roman Catholic priest of bilking a parishioner in her 80s out of nearly $500,000.The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division on Tuesday rejected the argument that church officials were negligent in supervising Monsignor John Woolsey, confessed thief and former pastor of the St. John the Martyr Church on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Woolsey, 69, is in prison after pleading guilty in September 2006 to grand larceny in exchange for a sentence of one to four years. He could have gotten up to 15 years in prison if he had been convicted at trial.
The executrix of parishioner Rose Cale's estate, Janet Naegele, sued Woolsey and the archdiocese in July 2004, accusing the priest of using undue influence to get Cale to sign over at least $490,000 in cash and securities to him. The lawsuit seeks return of Cale's money.
Naegele's lawsuit says the archdiocese reasonably could have foreseen Woolsey's conduct regarding Cale, but the appeals court disagreed and, reversing a lower court ruling, removed it as a defendant.
The appeals court said Woolsey's conduct, 'which may be characterized as exercising undue influence, overreaching, fraud or even theft, was not in furtherance of archdiocesan business and was a clear departure from the scope of his employment, having been committed for wholly personal motives.'
Naegele's lawyer, Brian D. Caplan, called the appellate ruling 'an unjust result that we hope to rectify.' He said his client likely would appeal.
Caplan said he does not know whether Woolsey has any assets left.
Cale died on Jan. 12, 2003, at age 88.
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