6 more lawsuits filed against North Vancouver Roman Catholic priest over alleged sexual abuse

Three months after a lawsuit against the Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver over alleged clerical sexual abuse was settled out of court, six more accusers have come forward and have filed their own lawsuits.

The allegations are leveled against John Kilty, a priest at North Vancouver’s Holy Trinity church and elementary school from the 1940s until the 1980s.

Kilty has since died.

Five men and one woman, who can’t be identified, are behind these latest lawsuits.

All six were students at the elementary school in the 1960s and 1970s and allege being sexually assaulted at Kilty’s home and during field trips.

Their lawyer emphasizes the six filings are separate and are not a class action lawsuit.

“…it is noteworthy that each of these survivor plaintiffs have instructed us to file separate, individual actions,” the lawyer said in a news release.

“We respectfully view class actions for sexual abuse survivors as highly problematic.”

The reason they are problematic, according to a report cited by the lawyer, is that in a class action, class members have a very minor role to play and aren’t involved in making decisions about how the case proceeds.

The new lawsuits name the Archbishop of Vancouver, the archdiocese schools,  the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, and Kilty. The court documents allege they were complicit in an operational culture that enabled Kilty to groom and abuse his victims.

In the lawsuit heard earlier this year, someone referred to only as John Doe testified about his alleged sexual abuse by Kilty, as well as another teacher. On the seventh day of the proceedings, a settlement was reached between the plaintiff and the Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver.