John Doe BF v. Diocese of Gallup

John Doe BF (plaintiff) alleged that as a teenager on the Navajo reservation, his priest gave him alcohol, sexually abused him, and threatened exposure if he told anyone; twenty years later he sued the Diocese of Gallup and related religious orders (defendants), alleging they enabled the abuse by transferring the priest to other parishes with continued unsupervised access to children rather than reporting him after he was caught molesting. Doe explained his delay in suing through an affidavit describing how the latent psychological effects of the abuse prevented him from connecting his injuries to the abuse until 2007, supported by scholarly articles on the acute withdrawal and isolation experienced by sexually abused Native American boys within a culture that traditionally relies on social integration for healing. The trial court held the claim time-barred regardless, and Doe appealed.