D.T. v. Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph

MARK D. PFEIFFER, Presiding Judge.

The question presented in this appeal is whether the supervisory hierarchy of a religious organization is to be treated differently under the law when it knows that sexual predator-related harm is certain or substantially certain to occur to child parishioners by a member of the clergy it supervises, but in one instance the harm happens to be perpetrated on church property, and in the other instance the harm happens to be perpetrated off of church property. Pursuant to controlling Missouri Supreme Court precedent, the answer appears to be “yes.”

D.T.1 appeals…