Suit against diocese to go to court
By Brian Liberatore
Press & Sun-Bulletin

OWEGO -- A lawsuit alleging the local Episcopal Diocese failed to act on an accusation of sex abuse and retaliated against the former rector who brought up the complaint will go forward in state Supreme Court.

The former rector of St. Paul's Church in Owego, David G. Bollinger, claimed in the suit that Bishop Gladstone Adams retaliated against him for raising allegations against another former St. Paul's rector, Ralph E. Johnson.

The diocese blocked Bollinger for the last year from performing his duties at St. Paul's. The diocese claimed that Bollinger misused money while rector at the church. Bollinger said the diocese invented the claim as a means of retaliation.

Supreme Court Justice Jeffery A. Tait ruled Wednesday that two of the seven complaints in the suit against the Central New York Diocese of the Episcopal Church could stand. The diocese had asked Tait to dismiss the case.

Tait dismissed several of Bollinger's complaints: breach of fiduciary duty by Adams, misuse of diocese assets, defamation, interference with the plaintiff's personal financial accounts and the improper extension of the "inhibition" that kept him from performing his duties. Tait let stand two complaints: intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of services. the rest