Noaker Law Receives International Attention
On June 18, CEL traveled to New Ulm, MN with client Patrick Noaker of Noaker Law to file a complaint at the Brown County Courthouse against the Diocese of New Ulm.
Noaker represents a number of survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other clergy. These survivors were children at the time of the abuse and are now able to come forward and speak out because of the passing of the Child Victims Act in Minnesota, lifting the statute of limitations on filing lawsuits..
The current complaint alleges abuse by Father Francis Markey at St. Thomas Parish in Henderson, MN in 1982. Pat Noaker said, “This suit is about acknowledging that my client was knowingly put in harms way and suffered sexual abuse by Fr. Markey. The goal is for him to receive support for his health and healing, while encouraging other victims to come forward.”
As a business that is passionately committed to the betterment of business, family and the community, Patrick Noaker came to us for a strong public relations strategy and help with securing media coverage surrounding his work. By attracting media coverage surrounding the filing of one survivor’s complaint, we were able to help Noaker reach out to others who may have fallen victim to Father Markey or another priest as a child. The hope is that those people will see this survivor’s story and feel more comfortable coming forward.
Last week, we took a major step forward as the Associated Press picked up our press release and distributed it to news outlets spanning from the Twin Cities, to Fargo, San Francisco, and Dublin, Ireland.
We celebrate this success because it has helped us reach more people. We hope that those who were abused in Minnesota will come forward and file suit against their abusers under the Child Victims Act. We also hope that survivors from other states – and countries, like Ireland, where Markey was first accused of pedophilia – will be encouraged to come forward to find help and healing, while protecting others.
Published on: June 25, 2013