Suit against cardinal dismissed

LOS ANGELES -- Ruling that U.S. courts had no jurisdiction in the case, a Los Angeles Superior Court Oct. 16 dismissed a lawsuit against Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera that accused him of conspiring with U.S. Catholic officials to shuttle a priest wanted for sex abuse between Mexico and California.

"The court said that this case should be in Mexico, not in California. They dismissed it on a legal technicality, not on the merits of the case," said Mike Finnegan, a lawyer for the plaintiff.

The lawsuit was filed last year by Joaquin Aguilar Mendez of Mexico City, who said he was raped in Mexico at age 13 by a priest named Nicolas Aguilar Rivera. The suit claims that church officials shunted Aguilar between Los Angeles and Mexico" City to avoid arrest.

The whereabouts of the priest, who is not related to the cardinal nor the plaintiff, are unknown. He is wanted on multiple charges of sexually abusing boys.

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