Opening arguments were scheduled Monday in a lawsuit filed against the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales by 63-year-old James Sheehan, who claims he was sexually abused as a boy by one of the order's priests.
The trial is the first for a lawsuit filed under a 2007 law that created a two-year window allowing claims of abuse to be brought even if the statute of limitations had expired. More than 175 lawsuits were filed before the window closed this summer.
Sheehan already has settled with the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which was a co-defendant.
