Defendants claim no knowledge of molestation

Co-defendants in a lawsuit accusing a Costa Mesa man of molesting a teenager claim the accuser is only seeking money and his claims have no merit.

A series of motions filed by attorneys for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Roger and Pamela Summers, and Birchdale Properties carefully rebut claims by an unidentified man that he was molested and that the defendants are responsible.

Todd Summers, who runs a video business out of Newport Beach, is accused in a civil suit filed last year that he molested a boy seven years his junior at his Mormon church between 1992 and 2001.

The lawsuit not only names Summers, but his parents, their business property called Birchdale Properties, and the Mormon church and its leaders.

The accuser claims Summers’ parents knew he was being molested, in some instances in the church, the business property, and under their noses when he would be locked in their son’s room for hours at a time.

Over the last several weeks, the nine defendants named in the suit have filed motions for summary judgment — meaning they lay out their case why a judge should throw out the suit against them. Typically, motions for summary judgment whittle down a lawsuit’s numerous claims to the ones arguable enough to be decided by a jury.

Roger and Pamela Summers, Todd’s parents, point out that nowhere in the accuser’s sworn depositions did he mention a time when they witnessed the alleged molestations. In fact, the accuser acknowledges that he was always alone with Todd Summers when he was supposedly abused — and that he didn’t tell anyone about it until years after.

Attorneys for Birchdale Properties, where some of the abuse allegedly occurred, maintain the same argument — if they didn’t see it, or have any reason to suspect it, they should not be found liable.

Vince Finaldi, attorney for the plaintiff in the suit, argues the Mormon church in particular should be found responsible.

He said church leaders didn’t do enough to investigate the claims after the fact, and they should have suspected Summers could abuse children because he spent an unusual amount of time with kids and never had a girlfriend, among other reasons.

“But these stereotypes have no traction in a California court,” attorneys for the church argued. “A teenager’s ‘disinterest in women’ is not a basis of liability for an entity’s purported failure to detect a pedophile.”

A judge is scheduled to hear arguments on the church’s request for dismissal May 22. Summers was never criminally charged for the alleged abuse after an investigation by Costa Mesa police and the district attorney’s office.