A state district court judge denied a motion Wednesday by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces to dismiss a civil claim in which it is accused of negligence.The diocese is named in a lawsuit filed in November by a former Carlsbad resident, who claims a Franciscan brother sexually abused him as a teenager in the late 1970s.
Also named defendants are Brother Kerry Guillory, the Conventual Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Consolation, the San Jose Catholic Church of Carlsbad, St. Edward Catholic Church of Carlsbad and the Diocese of El Paso.
Guillory has denied the accusations against him.
A lawyer for the Diocese of Las Cruces argued that the dates of the abuse claims predate the creation of the diocese and that it should therefore not be held responsible.
The lawsuit accuses church entities of trying to hide Guillory's alleged behavior while he was a youth counselor at the St. Edward and San Jose parishes.
Both parishes once operated under the authority of the Diocese of El Paso, until the Diocese of Las Cruces was formed in 1982.
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