In the latest news regarding the Pennsylvania Catholic Church abuse scandal, the plaintiff’s counsel seeks to expand or skip the statute of limitations, citing withheld evidence of predatory behavior by the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

In a Catholic Church abuse scandal case, plaintiffs’ counsel recently argued that an Aug. 14 grand jury report showed that numerous cases of abuse were not made public by the diocese. Because the information was not public, plaintiff James S. allegedly had no way of knowing that he could have taken legal action against church leaders.

The grand jury report in question looked into the conduct within six Pennsylvania dioceses: Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Scranton. The report says that 301 priests throughout the state, including 99 in the Pittsburgh diocese, committed sexual abuse against minors.

“If that information were made public, then my client would have known, within the existing statute of limitations, that he wasn’t alone, and he would have known that the church knew about these allegations,” said the plaintiff’s attorney in a statement to Law360. “The statute’s been extended in situations where there’s been fraudulent concealment of evidence.”

James was allegedly abused by John S. Hoehl between 1979 and 1984 first while he was attending a Catholic school and later at a cabin in Somerset County. This alleged abuse started when James was only 12 years old.

The Catholic Church abuse scandal grand jury report contains around 20 allegations of sexual abuse by Hoehl which reportedly took place in the late 1960s and late 1980s. These allegations were reported to the diocese between 1986 and 2015. After the first report in 1986, Hoehl was stripped of his positions as the pastor at a Pittsburgh church and the headmaster of a Catholic high school. He was then sent for treatment in Canada which diagnosed him with pedophelia. According to the treatment facility’s report to the diocese, Hoehl admitted to abusing students.

“The diocesan records indicated that each report of sexual abuse was brought to the attention of the district attorney’s office and that counseling for the victims and their families was provided,” the grand jury report says. “The expiration of the statute of limitations prevented Hoehl from being arrested and charged criminally for sexual abuse of minors.”

The report claims that the church “actively and systematically” concealed the Catholic Church abuse scandal. Because victims like James were unaware that their abusers had a history of abusive behavior, they thought they were alone and were unaware of the concealment done by the diocese.

Perer argues that the concealment and coverup permits a court to waive or extend the civil statutes of limitation. In the event that the court denies the waiver of statues of limitations, Perer supports the “civil window” of two years proposed by the grand jury in their report. The civil window would waive statues of limitations for two years and allow victims involved in the Catholic Church abuse scandal to take legal action.

“We think those older victims should get their two years back, now that the church is finally being forced to come clean,” the grand jury report states.

The Pennsylvania Catholic Church Abuse Scandal Case is Case No. GD-18-010994 in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.