An appellate court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against a Temperance priest who criticized a teenager’s suicide during his funeral after his parents specifically asked for privacy regarding the circumstances behind the teen’s death. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled the Rev. Don LaCuesta, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church on Lewis Ave., was protected by the religion clauses of the First Amendment. "…we cannot pass judgment on the content of his sermon," the three-judge panel wrote in their 7-page decision. "Consequently, the trial court did not err in dismissing plaintiff’s claims against the Parish." The court affirmed a decision by a Monroe County circuit judge who had dismissed the five-count lawsuit filed by the mother of Maison Hullibarger, 18, an athlete and honors student at Bedford High School, who died in 2018. Mourners were shocked when LaCuesta gave a critical sermon, saying suicide was a “secular crime” and a “sin against God with dire eternal consequences” that "endangered the immortal soul of plaintiff’s son." Wes Merillat, an attorney with the Charles E. Boyk Law Offices of Holland, Ohio, represents the Hullibarger family. He said he plans to appeal the ruling. “This is a legally […]
