The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the statute of limitations bars a woman from suing the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown for complicity in a priest’s alleged sexual abuse of her as a child in the 1970s and 80s.

Ruling 5-2 to reverse a Superior Court ruling allowing the claims to proceed, the justices held that plaintiff Renee Rice’s claims that the diocese covered up her sexual assault at the hands of Rev. Charles Bodziak failed because she missed the opportunity to investigate those claims with the diocese years ago, according to the majority opinion authored by Justice Christine Donohue.