West Virginia's attorney general discounted an effort Thursday by the state's Catholic diocese and its former bishop to quash his lawsuit claiming they knowingly employed pedophiles.
The motion to dismiss the lawsuit was filed last week by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and Bishop Michael Bransfield.
Morrisey brought the suit last month under the state's consumer credit and protection act. The lawsuit alleges that the diocese employed admitted sexual abusers and priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse without adequate background checks.
Lawyers for the diocese and Bransfield argued in their dismissal motion that the attorney general failed to show they violated the consumer credit and protection act.
