WINONA, Minn. — Three men abused as children by Winona Diocese priests are back in court with renewed claims for monetary compensation. The men, all in their 70s, filed their new cases in Winona, where the Diocese was headquartered at the time, and in Rochester, where the Diocese has since relocated its headquarters. As in the original cases, the men identified themselves in the new cases only as Doe 221, Doe 257 and Doe 276. The original cases were among hundreds nationwide that sent Catholic dioceses all over the country into bankruptcy to pay millions for priestly misdeeds. The Winona Diocese cases were settled with $22 million of Diocesan assets and $6.5 million from Diocesan insurance policies. The renewed cases involve payouts. The cases:
> Doe 221: The original case alleged that Harold Mountain, a now-deceased priest at St. Casimir’s Catholic Church in Wells, molested him in 1968 and 1969 when he was 7 or 8.
> Doe 257: The original case alleged that Sylvester Brown, a priest at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Blue Earth, molested him around 1974 when he was 13.
> Doe 276: The original case alleged that Tom Bork, a teacher at Cotter High School in Winona, molested him in 1972 and 1973 when he was 15 or 16.
Although the abuses were long ago, the Minnesota Legislature voided the usual statute of limitations for child sexual abuse in 2013. More than 100 claims followed.
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