Archive for category: News

August 11, 2015 – St. Louis, MO

Chackes, Carlson & Gorovsky, LLP, seek dismissal of Fr. Joseph Jiang’s lawsuit against the mother of the young boy who accused Jiang of sexual abuse.

The victim’s mother is speaking out publicly for the first time:

“As a parent I selected and paid for Catholic school because I thought the Archdiocese would protect my child and educate him in the ways of God and man.  Instead, I am horrified about the criminal abuse that happened to my child under their care.  I chose to entrust  the Archdiocese with my son, and they grossly failed to protect him.  In addition, I am being sued for believing my child. I am also appalled that I am being accused of being a racist. I am further being accused of discriminating against Catholics. This is ridiculous.  God has not given me a spirit of fear.  As a mother I will do everything within my power to protect my child and to see those who perpetrated and allowed these heinous crimes to take place brought to justice. May God have mercy on their souls.”

A copy of the Motion to Dismiss is attached.  In it, the mother’s attorneys state:

“In what appears to be a brazen attempt to frighten other potential victims of his from coming forward, on June 25, 2015, Plaintiff Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang filed a Complaint frivolously accusing the mother of a child who he sexually abused of  violating his rights. Plaintiff Jiang’s Complaint reads like a 32 page self-serving press release which was filed without regard to the law or common sense. Despite alleging that he was falsely accused, Plaintiff includes serious unfounded allegations in his Complaint and labels them “upon information and belief.”

“Of course, N.M. has the ultimate defense to all claims in this case in that the allegations of sexual abuse against Plaintiff are TRUE, but this case should never get that far.  Plaintiff has not even come close to making a sufficient claim against N.M. in this case.  His facts about N.M. are startlingly sparse.  The lack of facts here is so striking, in fact, that it appears that this entire case reeks of a publicity stunt designed to harass N.M. and her family and to prevent other victims of childhood sexual abuse from coming forward.  This lawsuit is malicious, frivolous and harassing.  The lawsuit lacks merit and is strongly against the public policy that encourages people to come forward when they are victims of childhood sexual abuse. With regard to N.M., it is purely harassing.”

The mother is being represented by Attorneys Ken Chackes (880-4465), Nicole Gorovsky (880-4469), and Scott Rosenblum (862-4332).

Motion to Dismiss

July 7, 2014

As was announced by the Archdiocese today, the Jane Doe 92 case has been settled. We will

only be making the following statement and by the agreement reached today will not be making

any further statements about this matter.

 

We stand by our client and her allegations that she was raped by Fr. Ross in 1999-2002 while

Jane Doe 92 was a parishioner at St. Cronan’s Church. We also stand by her allegations that she

was raped by another person. Some of Jane Doe 92’s therapists support her account.

 

Victimization is a terrible thing and what this young lady has experienced should never happen

to any person.

 

We believe a jury would have ultimately found that Fr. Ross raped Jane Doe 92. We must,

however, take action to preserve her health and well-being. We agree with the Archdiocese that

there is no healing for Jane Doe 92 that would come from a three week trial of these difficult and

personal facts.

 

We believe in and applaud the courage of Jane Doe 92 and her decision to avoid the rigors of

trial and begin the healing process. Her efforts through this case have already brought awareness

in this community about the sordid history of Ross and how it was handled by the Archdiocese.

Through that we hope this community is safer.

On December 31, 2013, Judge Robert Dierker Ordered the Archdiocese of St. Louis to turn over to attorneys at Ken Chackes, LLC the names of all priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse over a 20-year period.  This latest Order comes out of a case in which we represent a brave young woman who was sexually abused as a young child by Fr. Joseph Ross at St. Cronan’s Parish in the City of St. Louis.  Church officials had been resisting our efforts to obtain information that we believe will help prove that they knew of sexual misconduct by priests of the Archdiocese and that future harm was certain or substantially certain to result without proper supervision.

The Petition, most recent Order, and news reports can be seen below.

12-31-13 ORDER

Petition field 10-24-11

http://fox2now.com/2013/12/31/court-orders-church-to-release-names-of-priests-accused-of-abuse/

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Judge-orders-St-Louis-Archdiocese-to-turn-in-20-years-of-sexual-abuse-allegations-238323071.html

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/12/31/archdiocese-ordered-to-surrender-names-of-priests-accused-of-abuse/

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/judge-orders-archdiocese-to-turn-over-names-of-priests-accused/article_85e3927f-54e1-5741-9282-b30616b9dda8.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/archdiocese-of-st-louis-fights-judge-s-order-to-release/article_675bc6e8-7e46-5974-b561-a952ba914194.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-suit-follows-push-toward-transparency-in-church-sexual/article_205d6676-43f3-5a2d-b141-287fafdab9b6.html

Ken Chackes, LLC attorneys Ken Chackes and Nicole Gorovsky filed a new lawsuit on behalf of a young teenage girl and her parents, seeking to hold the Archdiocese of St Louis and Archbishop Robert Carlson responsible for the injuries they caused due to sexual abuse of the young girl by a priest.  The accused priest, Fr. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, was personally supervised by Archbishop Carlson since the priest was moved from China to the United States, while Carlson was a Bishop in Michigan.  Fr. Jiang moved with Carlson to St Louis when he became Archbishop, and lived in the Archbishop’s residence.

The young girl first met Jiang when she was fifteen years old and she attended church with her family at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis.  Jiang became very close to the family and he regularly visited their home in Lincoln County, Missouri.

The Archdiocese and Archbishop had at least two warnings about Jiang.  During the time that Jiang was getting close to the young girl, he reported to his superiors that he needed a reassignment because he was having personal problems.  But despite the warnings, Jiang was allowed to resume unlimited access to this young girl and her family.

After the parents discovered the abuse, they confronted Fr. Jiang about it, and Jiang admitted it to them.  He then tried to give them a $20,000 check.  Archbishop Carlson soon called the parents and told them that Fr Jiang also admitted the wrongdoing to him.  During that conversation, the mother asked Carlson if Jiang would be removed from the priesthood and Archbishop Carlson responded that he would remove Jiang if he “had sex” with the child, but not for activities other than that.   Archbishop Carlson then suggested that the parents return the $20,000 check to him.

Instead, the parents turned the matter over to the police.  Jiang is now being prosecuted criminally for two felonies, for engaging in sexual conduct with the child and for victim tampering by trying to pay the family to let the matter drop.  The criminal case is being prosecuted by the Prosecuting Attorney of Lincoln County.

Fr Jiang’s conduct of enticing and sexually abusing this young girl caused her and her family a great deal of emotional harm.  And the conduct of Archbishop Carlson, in failing to protect this family and then betraying them by minimizing Fr Jiang’s behavior and requesting they turn over evidence to him instead of the police, has added to that harm.

We encourage anyone with information about Fr Jiang to contact law enforcement authorities.

The lawsuit was filed on July 12, 2013, in the Circuit Court of Lincoln County, Missouri.  A link to a copy of the Petition is below.

Petition

A lawsuit filed on February 5, 2013, accuses an unidentified male swim coach who worked at the Mid-County YMCA in Brentwood, of sexually abusing two students in the mid-1980s.  The suit was filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

Lawsuit Petition

Post-Dispatch Article