A woman claims the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ was negligent in its response after she reported her stepfather was sexually abusing her. A Riverside judge has denied the church’s request to dismiss the case.
A Jane Doe claimed that her stepfather, Robert Fitzgerald, sexually abused her for eight years, starting in 1987, when she was 6 years old, and with the knowledge of her mother, Kathleen Bingley. She reported his sexual abuse to LDS Bishop Tyler Smithson in 1994, her complaint says.
Bingley denied her daughter’s allegations in her answer to the complaint. Fitzgerald also generally denied Doe’s allegations, and denied having caused any suffering. The church denied that
