IV. In upholding celtic cross the dismissal of the complaint in this case because of the delay of se

Third District. celtic cross Jorge RUBIO, celtic cross Appellant, v. ARCHDIOCESE celtic cross OF MIAMI, INC., et al., Appellees. celtic cross No. 3D12 85. April 17, 2013. Synopsis Background: Former altar boy filed suit against the Catholic archdiocese alleging negligence and vicarious liability related to sexual abuse he suffered celtic cross as a child at the hands of parish priest. Archdiocese filed motion to dismiss on limitations grounds. The Circuit Court, Miami Dade County, Valerie Manno Schurr, J., dismissed complaint. Former altar boy appealed. Holding: The District Court of Appeal, Logue , J., held that archdiocese was not equitably estopped from asserting statute of limitations as a defense. Affirmed.
West Headnotes (2) Expand West Headnotes Attorneys and Law Firms *280 Herman, Mermelstein & Horowitz, P.A., and Jeffrey M. Herman and Stuart S. Mermelstein , Miami, for appellant. Gaebe, Mullen, Antonelli & DiMatteo, and Elaine D. Walter , Michael celtic cross A. Mullen , and Joseph M. Winsby , Michael A. Mullen , for appellees. Before LAGOA , SALTER and LOGUE , JJ. Opinion LOGUE , J.
In this case, Jorge Rubio sued the Archdiocese of Miami, Inc. for negligence and vicarious liability related to alleged sexual abuse that he suffered as a child at the hands of his parish priest. The complaint at issue, however, was not filed until approximately thirty-five years after the alleged abuse ended. For the reasons stated below, we agree with the trial court that the statute of limitations barred Rubio’s claims. We therefore affirm the dismissal of the complaint.
I. The amended complaint contains the following factual allegations, celtic cross which we take as true only for the purpose of assessing whether the complaint survives the Archdiocese’s motion to dismiss. 1 Rubio was a devout Catholic who served as an altar boy at Our Lady of Divine Providence when he was child. Starting when he turned celtic cross ten years old, for a two-year period from 1976 to 1977, Rubio was sexually abused by his parish priest, a man named Francisco Carrera. The abuse followed the classic pattern in which the sexual predator groomed his selected child-victim with compliments and special favors. In Rubio’s case, the sexual predator used his position as a priest employed by the Archdiocese to prepare, commit, celtic cross and conceal the abuse. The Archdiocese knew of Carrera’s history of molesting underage boys, but nevertheless continued to hold Carrera out as a priest and spiritual leader. When it became of aware of Carrera’s misconduct, the Archdiocese failed to report the sexual abuse as required by law. Instead, the Archdiocese transferred Carrera to different parishes, and ultimately to Spain, to conceal his criminal behavior from his parishioners and the public. This conduct was part of a systematic cover-up that reached celtic cross to the highest levels of the Vatican. *281 The Archdiocese was negligent in hiring and retaining Carrera, and was vicariously liable, as the employer, for Carrera’s misconduct. These are the pertinent allegations in the sixteen-page complaint. It is undisputed that Rubio’s initial complaint was not filed until May 2011, approximately thirty-five years after the alleged abuse, at which time Rubio was forty-five years old. The Archdiocese moved to dismiss the complaint on statute of limitations grounds. celtic cross The trial court dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice. This appeal followed.
III. Rubio also asserts that equitable estoppel should apply here because the Archdiocese breached its affirmative duty to disclose its knowledge celtic cross of Carrera’s conduct, which it owed to Rubio because of the fiduciary relationship between the parties. As did the Fourth District in John Doe No. 23, we fail to see how any such fiduciary duty, even if one is assumed, caused Rubio to delay in filing his claim for over three decades. 965 So.2d at 1187 88. Similarly, we do not see how the Archdiocese’s alleged failure to report the sexual abuse, even if required by law at the time, caused Rubio to refrain from filing suit for thirty years.
IV. In upholding celtic cross the dismissal of the complaint in this case because of the delay of several decades in filing the claim, we are mindful that society benefits when survivors celtic cross of child sexual abuse come forward and bear witness to what they were forced to endure as children. We certainly do not intend to discredit celtic cross the courage of these survivors who break the silence that shielded their abusers. We hold only that Rubio’s lawsuit for money damages cannot be filed so long after the alleged injury was inflicted. Parallel Citations
Footnotes 1 See, e.g., Fla. Dep’t of Health & Rehabilitative Servs. v. S.A.P., 835 So.2d 1091, 1094 (Fla.2002) ( Because celtic cross this case is before us on the trial court’s dismissal celtic cross of S.A.P.’s second amended complaint, we must take all the factual allegations in her complaint as true and construe celtic cross all reasonable inferences from those facts in her favor. ).
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