Two Brothers Sue Same Two Priests For Abuse

One brother has recently joined the other in a lawsuit against two priests that stems from sexual abuse from the early 1990s, as reported by the Orange County Register in Santa Ana.

The two priests, both at a Huntington Beach Parish at the time of the alleged abuse, are Gus Krumm and Reverend Alexander Manville.

Krumm is a former Franciscan friar and priest, and admitted to instances of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s.  At that time he was ensconced in both study and teaching at a seminary.

Rev. Manville has a jury trial set in July in the Orange County Superior Court.

The two brothers alleging the priest abuse have joined together in their lawsuit.

The first brother, now 26 and the younger of the two, is using John Doe as an alias.  Doe sued both Krumm and Manville in 2009.  He accused them both of sexual abuse from 1992-94 while they were priests at Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church in the Huntington Beach Parish.

Now new allegations, made by the plaintiffs older brother, now 30, attest that his abuse occurred from 1990-94 while he attended Catholic school.

"Bogus medical exams" quickly moved to rape according to H. Shaina Colover, the joint-plaintiff's attorney.

Per court documents, Krumm had been investigated at St. Anthony's Seminary in Santa Barbara years earlier.  An independent board of inquiry found Krumm guilty of "lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor" but allowed him to continue working at Sts. Simon and Jude for at least five more years.

A 1993 independent board also found 34 victims of sexual abuse by 10 friars. The report said of St. Anthony's: "A cancerous evil existed in the institution."

The plaintiff's suit, filed in Orange County, claims that Krumm and Manville resided at St. Anthony's during the time of "rampant sexual abuse."

The Roman Catholic diocese of Orange began making headlines for sexual abuse claims in 2005, when they agreed to pay $100 million in settling no less than 90 complaints.

Attorney Paul E. Gaspari, for the Franciscan Friars of California said, "The Franciscans have settled every case that has ever been brought against them, and they have found that people claiming to have been molested by priests were usually telling the truth.  But this case is very different, we believe the allegations of these plaintiffs have no merit, and we believe that will be borne out in court."

Colover said that this response, of attacking the credibility of the accuser, is commonplace for the friars.  She said, "It's not surprising that they're using this tactic again."

Colover claims that "They knew Krumm was an abuser, the bishop transferred him into Sts. Simon and Jude in Huntington Beach, and the church retained him with full access to the grammar school no matter what information came forward."

The brothers are seeking punitive damages against the diocese and the Franciscan Friars.

You may be due monetary compensation if a member of the clergy has abused you.  Click here to contact a personal injury attorney from our directory for help.