Garabedian Files Lawsuit Against Buffalo Diocese

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BUFFALO (WBEN) - As first reported by Channel 7, a lawsuit has been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

BREAKING -- $300 million lawsuit filed against @BuffaloDiocese for alleged sex abuse @ Cardinal O'Hara High School https://t.co/2SYLUZ0p2O

— Charlie Specht (@Charlie_Reports) February 25, 2019

Prominent lawyer and sex abuse victim defender, Mitchell Garabedian, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Gail Holler-Kennedy, a resident of Niagara County. Conventual Franciscan religious order and Cardinal O'Hara High School were also named in the legal document.

"My client was sexually abused from approximately 1978 to 1982 when she was a teenager at Cardinal O'Hara High School by a Catholic priest, by a Franciscan," said Garabedian. "This abuse was ongoing and continuous for quite a while, and the perpetrator was Fr. Mark S. Andrzejczuk. It happened withing the Buffalo Diocese's boundaries, and we've sued all entities in the matter."

Garabedian also credited a recently passed piece of legislation for allowing this lawsuit to commence.

"This is an example how the Child Victim's Act helping a victim," he said. "My client was to turn 55 Sunday, so we filed suit before she turned 55 so she could meet the criteria in the statute of the Child Victim's Act."

Garabedian noted that he will be asking the court to personally represent Holler-Kennedy.