The archdiocese is a defendant in the cases alongside Leo Riley, a former area priest previously charged with sexual abuse.
Riley in November filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuits with prejudice, according to Charlotte County (Fla.) court documents. All three civil complaints were filed in October in Charlotte County Circuit Court and list John Doe plaintiffs.
In its motion, the archdiocese cited the Florida court’s lack of “personal jurisdiction over a religious nonprofit organization in the state of Iowa that has engaged in no activity in the state of Florida.”
Riley, 68, of Port Charlotte, Fla., previously was charged in Iowa District Court of Dubuque County with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse stemming from allegations related to his time at a Dubuque parish in the 1980s.
Riley was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 1982 and served in various archdiocesan parishes before requesting a move to the Diocese of Venice, Fla., in 2002.
Court documents state that four people reported Riley sexually abused them from 1985 to 1986 when he was associate pastor at Church of the Resurrection in Dubuque.
The case was dismissed in July because the statute of limitations had expired. Riley denied the claims and pleaded not guilty prior to the case being dismissed.