KEARNY — A judge in Newark today dismissed a lawsuit filed by two men, saying the statute of limitations had run out on their claim they were sexually abused more than 65 years ago at a Catholic orphanage in Kearny. Henry Coffey, 81, of Colonia, and Frank Fioretti, 82, of Florida, said they waited until 2004 to file their...
Photo of two octogenarians (L to R), Frank Fioretti (age 82) and Henry Coffey(age 81) who are testifying in Superior Court in Essex County about the sexual and physical abuse they received from nuns at the old Sacred Heart Orphanage in Kearny. KEARNY — A judge in Newark today dismissed a lawsuit filed by two men, saying the statute of limitations had run out on their claim they were sexually abused more than 65 years ago at a Catholic orphanage in Kearny.
Henry Coffey, 81, of Colonia, and Frank Fioretti, 82, of Florida, said they waited until 2004 to file their lawsuit because one had repressed the claimed sexual abuse for decades and the other hadn’t fully comprehended its impact.
But Superior Court Judge Claude Coleman said the men were too late. He did not rule on the merits of their claims but said they should have filed in the mid-1990s and no later than 2001, when media accounts of similar allegations of sexual abuse by clergy would have triggered their memories.
In the lawsuit, Coffey and Fioretti accused three nuns at the Sacred Heart Orphanage of sexual abuse, which they said happened when they were boys between 10 and 14 years old.
But the case was unusual because of how many years had passed. When it was alleged to have happened, "Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president of the United States," attorneys for the defendant, the Pallottine Sisters, a religious order that ran the orphanage, have said. Today, Coffey and Fioretti have gray hair and walk with a careful gait. The orphanage, for boys, was closed in the 1950s.
The same judge last year denied an initial motion to dismiss, granting Coffey and Fioretti a hearing to determine whether their cases merit exceptions to the statute of limitations.
Today’s ruling came after three days of testimony on that issue. The statute allows two years to file a claim after a "reasonable discovery" that an injury was caused by sexual abuse.
Greg Gianforcaro, lead attorney for the two men, said he would likely appeal. "There were significant flaws in the judge’s decision," he said. "Trial courts don’t understand the issues with regard to mental state of victims."
"Had the case been allowed to move forward," he said, "it would have had a positive impact on victims of childhood sexual abuse throughout this state as well as throughout the country."
In at times graphic testimony, Coffey and Fioretti detailed their experiences at Sacred Heart — where they attended from 1937 to 1943 — enduring what they called sexual abuse accompanied by physical beatings. They described an orphanage where it was commonplace for nuns to beat and sexually assault the boys in the classrooms, bathrooms, hallways and dormitories.
But the case was a difficult one to present, the judge noted, because the nuns alleged to have committed the abuse, Sisters Fortunata, Gertrude and Regina, are all dead, and "records have been destroyed and memories faded," he said.
While Coffey said he always remembered the beatings the nuns inflicted, he claimed he repressed the memory of sexual abuse until 2004, when he saw a CNN report detailing payouts by the Newark Archdiocese to sexual abuse victims. Before that, "God separated me from the physical and sexual … God gave me that blessing so I could be able to survive," he said.
Fioretti said he never forgot the sexual abuse and went decades believing he enjoyed it. "I thought it was beautiful. I loved it. I didn’t think I had a sexual problem," he said. Fioretti, who can’t read or write and became obsessed with sex after leaving the orphanage, said he later realized those sexual acts with the nuns were acts of abuse.
But in his decision, the judge didn’t appear to believe Fioretti had really changed his mind, but was rather encouraged to do so later. In his testimony, Fioretti admitted he filed the lawsuit for physical abuse sustained at the orphanage, and only later included sexual abuse. "At the time of the complaint, he had no injury," the judge said.
The judge also dismissed Coffey’s claim he had erased the abuse from memory out of necessity. On the witness stand, Coffey said he had buried his memories of sexual abuse so deeply that when he met Sister Regina years later, in 1965, and she offered a general apology, he believed it was for the beatings only. "He should have discovered it when he spoke to Sister Regina," the judge said. "He should have known this was for all of the things she had done to him."
Anthony Dougherty, lead attorney for the defense, smiled broadly when the judge gave his decision, saying after, "in my book, the case is done."
But the two men said they intend to appeal, adding they have already accomplished their goal of getting out the message about their abuse. "We didn’t go in it for the money, we went to be advocates," Coffey said. "We won’t back down. If you give up, all the rotten apples out there are going to do more damage."