Sheehan v. Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

15 A.3d 1247, 2011 Del. LEXIS 115, 2011 WL 592186
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedFebruary 22, 2011
DocketNo. 730, 2009
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 15 A.3d 1247 (Sheehan v. Oblates of St. Francis de Sales) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sheehan v. Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, 15 A.3d 1247, 2011 Del. LEXIS 115, 2011 WL 592186 (Del. 2011).

Opinion

STEELE, Chief Justice:

James E. Sheehan filed a personal injury action under 10 Del. C. § 8145, the Child Victim’s Act, against several institutional defendants, including the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and Salesianum School, for the alleged sexual abuse he suffered in 1962 by Father Francis Norris, a teacher at Salesianum. The Child Victim’s Act (CVA), enacted in 2007, abolished the civil statute of limitations for claims of childhood sexual abuse and created a two year window to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil suits that the statute of limitations previously barred. After a jury trial, the jury found the Ob-lates, but not Salesianum, negligent under Section 8145. However, the jury did not find that the Oblates’ negligence had proximately caused Sheehan’s injuries.

Sheehan asserts that the trial judge committed numerous reversible errors. We reverse and remand for a new trial for two reasons: (1) because the trial judge failed to properly balance, on the record, the probative value of admitting the general causation expert against the unfair prejudice to Sheehan of excluding the testimony; and (2) because the trial judge erred by holding that Section 8145 does not revive intentional torts.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

James E. Sheehan attended Salesianum School during 1961-1964. While Sheehan was a student at Salesianum, Father Francis Norris, a priest of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, was assigned to a teaching position at Salesianum. Sheehan alleges that one night in April 1962, during the spring of his sophomore year, Norris offered him a ride home after a basketball game and Norris forced him to engage in sexual masturbation in the car. Sheehan never reported the incident to the Oblates or to Salesianum. However, Sheehan testified that decades before he had any motive to lie, he told his family members about the sexual abuse.

[1252]*1252Eyewitness testimony, as well as the Oblates’ own business records, demonstrated that the Oblates had prior notice that Norris was an alcoholic and had attempted suicide, and that the Oblates’ own doctors urged his immediate psychiatric hospitalization. Sheehan’s expert witness testified that in the 1960’s priest records used code words to refer to sexual abuse of a child. These code words included “health problems,” “depression,” “nervous breakdown,” and “alcoholism.” The expert also testified that alcoholism was not considered a scandal at the time because it was so prevalent in the religious communities of priests. Norris’ personnel file was filled with the words “health problems,” “depression,” and “alcoholism.” Shortly before his transfer to Salesianum, his file noted that it was preferable to remove him from his then current locality (New York) and out of direct contact with his present community.

Norris died on March 24, 1985, and the Oblates remained unaware of Sheehan’s allegations until Section 8145 became law in July 2007.

In 2007, after a Boston Globe investigation revealed a pattern of sexual abuse against minors by Catholic priests, the Delaware Legislature enacted Section 8145, to repeal the statute of limitations in civil suits relating to child sex abuse.1 The CVA provided a two year window, during which time prior victims of abuse would be permitted to file civil actions previously barred by the then applicable statute of limitations. The statute also revived claims against institutional defendants who employed or controlled alleged abusers, for claims arising from “gross negligence.”

Sheehan filed his complaint against Ob-lates of St. Francis de Sales, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, Inc., and Salesianum School, Inc., on November 30, 2007. A seven day jury trial began on November 16, 2009. Sheehan contended at trial that the Oblates were aware of the “red flags” yet failed to keep Norris away from children as required by the educational standard of care in Delaware schools in the 1950s and 1960s.

Before trial, but after completion of discovery, the Oblates had moved for summary judgment on numerous grounds. On October 27, 2009, the Superior Court issued an opinion holding, inter alia, that Section 8145 did not revive intentional torts and dismissed Sheehan’s fraud count.2 The court denied the Oblates’ remaining motions for summary judgment, including motions challenging the constitutionality of Section 8145.3 The Oblates also filed a pretrial motion in limine to strike the testimony of Sheehan’s general causation expert, Diane Mandt Langberg, Ph.D. On November 9, 2009, the trial judge issued an order granting the motion and precluding Langberg from testifying for lack of relevance.4 The Oblates also moved in limine to exclude the testimony of Sheehan’s corroborative witnesses who Norris also allegedly abused. The trial judge denied the motion and permitted the witnesses to testify where the alleged abuse of a corroborative witness occurred during the same time Sheehan was abused.

At the prayer conference on November 20, 2009, each party submitted a proposed special verdict form for the trial judge’s consideration. The trial judge rejected [1253]*1253Sheehan’s version, which contained the standard of “a proximate cause,” in favor of a special verdict form with the language of “the proximate cause.” Sheehan did not object to the language of the special verdict form at trial. The trial judge further ruled that the 1962 Delaware Criminal Code governed the types of sexual acts which Sheehan needed to prove under the CVA rather than the current version of the criminal code.5

Following a seven day trial, the jury returned a verdict form that found the Oblates negligent, but not Salesianum. The form further indicated that the jury found that Sheehan had failed to prove that the Oblates’ negligence proximately caused his injuries. Consequently, a verdict was entered for the defendant.

On appeal, Sheehan alleges the trial judge erred and abused his discretion by (i) excluding his general causation expert, (ii) using a special verdict form that referred to “the ” proximate cause rather than “a” proximate cause, (iii) that the CVA did not revive intentional torts and (iv) incorrectly applying the 1962 criminal code rather than the current Delaware criminal code. The Oblates have cross appealed, contending that the CVA is unconstitutional either facially or if not facially, as applied. They also contend on cross appeal that the trial judge erred by admitting the testimony of Norris’ other alleged victims, because that testimony was unfairly prejudicial and constituted improper character evidence.

II. ANALYSIS

A. The Trial Judge Abused His Discretion by Excluding Sheehan’s General Causation Expert.

We review a trial judge’s decision to exclude expert testimony for an abuse of discretion.6 If we find that the trial judge abused his discretion, we then consider whether the abuse constituted significant unfair prejudice and denied the appellant a fair trial.7 When improperly excluded evidence “goes to the very heart of [a] plaintiff[’s] case and might well have affected the outcome of the trial, the exclusion of the evidence warrants a new trial.”8

The Delaware Uniform Rule of Evidence 702 governs.9

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 A.3d 1247, 2011 Del. LEXIS 115, 2011 WL 592186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sheehan-v-oblates-of-st-francis-de-sales-del-2011.