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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.
