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Monday, August 21, 2006
Ind. Law - Lawyers in Indianapolis Archdiocese sex abuse cases featured
The Terre Haute Tribune-Star had a very long story Saturday by Stephanie Salter on the opposing lawyers in cases involving allegations of abuse by Indianapolis Archdiocese priests or church employees. The story begins:
TERRE HAUTE — Patrick Noaker and Jay Mercer frequently cross one another’s path — albeit mostly in court files.That case was reported in this June 2nd ILB entry, quoting from the Louisville Courier Journal. This June 5-6 entry includes later information.Noaker, a native of Wakarusa (near Elkhart), is a member of the St. Paul, Minn., firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates, P.A., a team of lawyers that has climbed to national prominence during the past two decades as advocates for plaintiffs in child sex abuse cases, many involving Catholic priests.
In June, a U.S. District Judge in Portland, Ore., ruled that Anderson’s firm could include the Vatican as a defendant in a sex abuse case involving a now-deceased priest. It was the first such decision in the United States.
Born in Indianapolis, Mercer is a partner at Wood Tuohy Gleason Mercer & Herrin, P.C., in the state capital. His areas of expertise are health-care law, employment and personnel law. He helped develop his firm’s policies for handling claims of sexual misconduct for institutional clients such as hospitals, schools, churches and summer camps.
Mercer is the lead counsel for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis on all cases involving allegations of abuse by archdiocesan priests or church employees. He has represented the Archdiocese since 1986.
Mercer received his undergraduate and law degrees from Indiana University. Noaker graduated from Taylor University and got his law degree at St. Louis University. Both men are Catholics, but Noaker said he no longer practices the faith.
The last time the two attorneys met face-to-face was a few months ago at Mercer’s Monument Circle office to discuss discovery issues in the case of former priest Harry E. Monroe. The session came shortly after a Clark County Superior Court judge threw out the complaints of 22 men — not represented by Noaker — who alleged sex abuse as minors by another Indianapolis archdiocesan priest.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting such crimes had run out, the judge ruled.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 21, 2006 03:21 PM
Posted to Indiana Law