HOUSTON – Today, the 14th Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston – litigation claiming that a deacon’s personal relationship with a man’s wife led to the couple’s divorce.
Scott Mosby sued The Archdiocese back in 2018, also naming Deacon Edward Kleinguetl as a defendant.
Court records show that Mosby and his ex-wife, Cynthia, were active parishioners in St. Martha’s Roman Catholic Church for 15 years.
According to Mosby’s suit, he developed “an extremely close personal friendship” with Deacon Kleinguetl and sought guidance from his about his marriage, but Kleinguetl declined to provide counseling to him because of his friendship with the couple.
Mosby claims he started to notice an unusual closeness between Kleinguetl and his wife and began to suspect that they were having more than family and marriage counseling sessions.
In his suit, Mosby says he eventually learned “that Kleinguetl was having a ‘relationship’ with [Cynthia]. Cynthia has since filed for divorce from [Mosby].”
Mosby also claims he subsequently learned The Archdiocese was fully aware of issues relating to Kleinguetl’s inappropriate relationships with others while being a deacon.
“The Archdiocese was and is now aware that Kleinguetl was having a personal relationship with Cynthia, while acting for and on behalf of the Archdiocese,” the suit states.
The Archdiocese and Kleinguetl responded to the suit by filing pleas to the jurisdiction asserting that Mosby’s claims were bared by the ecclesiastical doctrine.
Court records show the trial court granted the plea, dismissing all of Mosby’s claims.
On appeal, justices found that nothing in the record demonstrates the existence of a fact that would defeat the defendants’ plea.
Appeals case No. 14-19-00594-CV