Greer Law Group, Colorado Church Sexual Abuse Lawyer

Clergy and Religious Institution Abuse Attorney Serving Denver and All of Colorado

He was the one adult you were told you could always trust. That was not an accident. It was the arrangement.

Abuse inside a church is rarely the act of one man who slipped past everyone. It usually runs on access that someone granted, warnings that someone filed away, and a transfer that moved a problem instead of stopping it. This is the work The Pink Advocate takes on: civil claims against churches, dioceses, parishes, religious orders and the leadership that kept the arrangement running.

The call is free and it stays confidential. 303-331-6460.

Who we bring claims for

Survivors abused by a priest, pastor, minister, rabbi, deacon, youth pastor or lay volunteer
Survivors abused at a church school, religious daycare, Sunday school or confirmation program
Survivors abused on a youth retreat, mission trip, church camp or overnight event
Survivors abused during counseling, confession or spiritual direction, where the role itself created the access
Survivors whose abuser was quietly moved to another parish, congregation or state
Survivors who reported it years ago and were asked to keep it quiet
Adults, not only children. Clergy abuse of an adult parishioner is also a claim.

Colorado law already answers the church’s main defenses

The First Amendment is not a shield against this. Churches routinely argue that a court cannot examine how they supervise clergy without entangling itself in religion. Colorado rejected the broad version of that argument more than thirty years ago. In Moses v. Diocese of Colorado, 863 P.2d 310 (Colo. 1993), the Colorado Supreme Court held that the First Amendment does not grant religious organizations absolute immunity from tort liability, and that claims which can be decided under neutral principles of law, without interpreting church doctrine, may proceed.

That case also laid out the claims that work. In Moses the court upheld judgment against the diocese and the bishop for negligent hiring, negligent supervision and breach of fiduciary duty. The diocese had psychological reports on the priest and placed him in a counseling role anyway. The bishop took control of the complaint and then bound the parishioner to secrecy. Those are the facts courts respond to, and they are the facts we go looking for.

What that case also tells you about strategy. The court reversed the one finding based on vicarious liability, because a priest’s sexual acts fall outside the scope of his employment. So the claim that reaches an institution is not “you employed him.” It is what the institution itself knew, ignored, enabled and concealed. Framed correctly, that claim survives. Framed lazily, it does not.

Clergy are mandatory reporters in Colorado, with one narrow exception. Under C.R.S. 19-3-304(2)(aa)(I), a clergy member is a mandatory reporter of suspected child abuse. Subsection (2)(aa)(III) defines that to include priests, rabbis, ordained, commissioned or licensed ministers, members of religious orders and recognized leaders of a religious body. There is an exception in subsection (2)(aa)(II) for information learned in a communication the person cannot be examined about as a witness, which is the confessional privilege. That exception is narrower than churches often suggest, because it does not apply if the clergy member also learned of the abuse from any other source. A report made to a pastor in his office, by a parent, in a hallway, or by another staff member is not privileged.

The filing deadline may be gone, and that depends on dates. Under C.R.S. 13-80-103.7, as amended by Senate Bill 21-073, a civil action based on sexual misconduct may be commenced at any time, without limitation. That reaches claims accruing on or after January 1, 2022, and earlier claims whose limitation period had not already run by that date, and it covers claims against someone other than the perpetrator, which is what a claim against a church is. For older abuse the answer is different. In Aurora Public Schools v. A.S., 2023 CO 39 (June 20, 2023), the Colorado Supreme Court held that claims already time-barred before January 1, 2022 cannot be revived, because the Colorado constitution forbids retrospective legislation. We will not tell you a decades-old claim is fine when it may not be. Tell us roughly what years it happened and we will tell you straight.

What an investigation actually looks for

Churches keep records, and the useful ones are rarely the ones they hand over first. Personnel and assignment files showing every parish he was moved to and when. Correspondence with the diocese, the order, or the denomination about complaints. Psychological evaluations and treatment referrals. Prior complaints from other families and what was done with them. Insurance claim files. Minutes and memos from whoever decided to reassign him. Names of the staff who were there. In the Moses case it was the diocese’s own reports that carried the day.

What to do now

Write down what you remember: names, the parish or congregation, the years, your age at the time, and who else was around.
Keep anything you still have. Bulletins, photos, directories, letters, confirmation or baptism records, anything that places you there with him.
If you reported it before, note who you told, roughly when, and what they said back.
Do not sign anything a church, diocese or their insurer puts in front of you, and do not accept a payment, before a lawyer reads it.
Do not speak to a church investigator or review board on your own. Those processes are run by the institution.
Get support if you want it. Your health comes first, and you do not have to be ready to file anything to ask a question.

What a claim can cover

Depending on the facts, a civil claim may seek compensation for counseling and medical treatment, lost income and lost earning capacity, and the emotional harm the abuse caused. In some cases Colorado law allows punitive damages where a defendant’s conduct was willful and wanton. No one can tell you what a case is worth without reading the file, and anyone who tries is guessing.

Confidentiality, and your name

Most survivors ask this before anything else. You can ask a question without filing anything, and the conversation stays confidential. If a case is filed, there are ways to protect a survivor’s identity in the record, and that is a decision you make with your lawyer rather than one made for you.

Why survivors call Greer Law Group

Marlo Greer built The Pink Advocate around a simple idea. Someone has to be willing to say out loud what an institution did, and to keep saying it after the other side’s lawyers start calling you difficult. She is a trial attorney, she speaks about this work nationally and internationally, and she does not treat a survivor like a file number.

You will talk to a lawyer. No intake script, no call center, and the conversation stays confidential.

Frequently asked questions

Can a church be held responsible, or only the person who abused me?
Both, and the claim against the institution is usually the one that matters. In Moses v. Diocese of Colorado, 863 P.2d 310 (Colo. 1993), the Colorado Supreme Court upheld judgment against a diocese and its bishop for negligent hiring, negligent supervision and breach of fiduciary duty. The question is what the church knew about him and what it did with that knowledge.

Does the First Amendment stop a court from hearing this?
No. Moses held that the First Amendment does not give religious organizations absolute immunity from tort liability, and that claims a court can decide using neutral principles of law, without interpreting religious doctrine, may go forward.

Are clergy required to report child abuse in Colorado?
Yes. Under C.R.S. 19-3-304(2)(aa)(I) a clergy member is a mandatory reporter. There is a narrow exception for what is learned in a privileged communication, but it does not apply if the clergy member also learned of the abuse from any other source.

The abuse happened decades ago. Is it too late?
It depends on the dates, and we will not guess. Colorado allows a sexual misconduct action to be commenced at any time without limitation for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2022, and for earlier claims not already time-barred on that date. Under Aurora Public Schools v. A.S., 2023 CO 39, claims that had already expired before January 1, 2022 cannot be revived. Tell us the approximate years and we will give you a straight answer.

What if the person who abused me is dead, or the parish closed?
The claim can still exist. It runs against the institution that placed him there, which may be the diocese, the religious order, or the denominational body, and those entities generally outlive an individual parish or priest.

Do I have to go to the police or the church’s own review board first?
No. A civil claim does not depend on a police report, an arrest, a conviction, or anything a church review board decides. Those processes belong to someone else. A civil case is yours.

Talk to Greer Law Group

Free and confidential. Nothing moves until you say so.

The Greer Law Group
2950 Brighton Blvd Suite 25, Denver, CO 80216
303-331-6460

This page is general information about Colorado law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts.