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<docID>332983</docID>
<postdate>2024-11-13 12:52:24</postdate>
<headline>High Court rules Catholic Church not liable for abuse</headline>
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<caption>The High Court has ruled the Catholic Church is not liable for a priest abusing a boy in 1971. (Tracey Nearmy/AAP PHOTOS)</caption>
<p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">ByÂ <b>Kaitlyn Offer</b>Â in Melbourne</span></p>
<p><strong>Ballarat's Catholic diocese has been found not liable for the sexual abuse of a young boy by one of its priests.</strong></p>
<p>The High Court on Wednesday overturned on appeal a previous ruling by Victoria's Supreme Court that the diocese was liable.</p>
<p>The court found the relevant legislation did not provide a basis for imposing vicarious liability because the priest was not an employee of the church.</p>
<p>The diocese and its current bishop, Paul Bird, were sued by a man who said he was sexually assaulted by Father Bryan Coffey at his parents' home in Port Fairy in 1971 when he was five years old.</p>
<p>Coffey received a three-year suspended sentence in 1999 after being convicted of charges including indecent assaults of males and females under 16 and false imprisonment.</p>
<p>The man, known as DP in court documents, didn't tell anyone except for his partner about the assault until 2018.</p>
<p>He made a claim for more than $1.5 million for loss of earnings as a result of the assaults, a figure described by Justice Jack Forrest as "bold".</p>
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