By Gretchen Keiser

The Georgia Court of Appeals has upheld the decision of a lower court throwing out a lawsuit filed by Vicki Long against the Archdiocese of Atlanta and former Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ.

Asked if this would put to rest the legal case, attorney David Brown, representing the archdiocese, said, “Reason and logic would seem to indicate yes.”

However, Ms. Long has a 10-day period in which to file a motion for reconsideration of the Court of Appeals decision, which was issued Feb. 16.

The unanimous ruling upheld each of the judgments of the lower court, saying that the Fulton County Superior Court was correct in ruling that the two-year statute of limitations had run out before the suit by Ms. Long was filed Nov. 3, 1992. She alleged that her last contact with Archbishop Marino was April 30, 1990, when he left the state of Georgia.

The Superior Court ruling in favor of the archdiocese and Archbishop Marino on a second contention was also upheld. The Court of Appeals agreed there was no breach of an implied contract between Ms. Long and the archbishop for financial support in exchange for cohabitation because such a contract between unmarried parties would be unlawful.

Another claim, that a legal marriage had taken place, was also rejected.

“The clear evidence is that Marino and appellant could not marry, and could not cohabit and hold themselves out as husband and wife, while he was a Catholic Archbishop,” the appeals court said.

The appeals court also said the archdiocese could not be held liable for any alleged support the archbishop has failed to provide to Ms. Long. The Superior Court was also within its discretion in granting a protective order postponing any deposition of Archbishop Marino until after the motion for summary judgment was resolved, the appeals court said.