LOS ANGELES (AP) — The children of a deceased man who said he was molested as a child by a priest have sued the Roman Catholic church under a new California law that allows survivors to bring lawsuits for the suffering a loved one endured.

The family of Jim Bartko filed the lawsuit last week in Alameda County Superior Court against the Diocese of Oakland. Bartko, a University of Oregon athletic department administrator, sued the church in 2020 but the case was dismissed when he died a few days later.

His estate sued under a law that allows survivors to collect emotional damages he could have claimed if he prevailed in his case.