Court rejects repressed memory abuse claim

The Minnesota Supreme Court has tossed out a clergy abuse lawsuit by a man whose case rested on a repressed memory claim.

James Keenan of Savage sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona. He alleged that he was abused in the 1980s by Thomas Adamson, a priest now defrocked.

Keenan brought his claim outside the statute of limitations, but argued that it should be allowed because he repressed memories of the abuse. A district court rejected that claim, but the state Court of Appeals revived it.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the district court's finding that the theory of repressed memory was unproven.

Keenan says he's disappointed by the ruling. The archdiocese had no immediate comment and a Winona diocese spokesman didn't immediately return a call.