High court to rule on Catholic church’s liability for abuse committed by paedophile priests

Church has been granted special leave to appeal Victorian judgment that found Ballarat diocese was vicariously liable for abuse of child

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The Catholic church has won the right to challenge in the high court a landmark Victorian ruling forcing the church to take on greater liability for the actions of paedophile priests within its ranks.

In the past two years, the Victorian courts have delivered and upheld an unprecedented ruling that the Ballarat diocese was vicariously liable for the abuse of a five-year-old child known as DP at the hands of assistant priest Father Bryan Coffey.