The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by five men who claimed two Roman Catholic dioceses should have reported sexual abuse claims against a teacher before he moved on to a Kentucky diocese and molested them.

The lawsuit alleged that the Diocese of Milwaukee told Gary Kazmarek to "leave Milwaukee quietly" in the 1960s before he moved to suburban Madison and later Kentucky, where he is serving a 13-year prison sentence for abusing the five men between 1968 and 1973.

The high court unanimously rejected the men's claims that the Madison diocese was negligent in failing to contact police or warn employers that Kazmarek was known for sexually abusing children. The justices said the men did not allege that the diocese even knew Kazmarek was teaching at a Catholic school in Louisville, Ky., or that the archdiocese there had ever asked for references.

"Reasonable and ordinary care does not require the Diocese to notify all potential subsequent employers within dioceses and parochial school systems across the country, along with all parents of future unforeseeable victims," Justice Louis Butler wrote for the court.

The Supreme Court said the Madison diocese's failure to warn potential victims in other states did not constitute negligence. It deadlocked 3-3 on the portion of the lawsuit pertaining to the Milwaukee diocese, but a lower court ruling throwing out the case on different grounds still stands.

"Obviously I think it's unfortunate because this is a teacher that molested students in two different locations and went on to do it again," said Wendy Gunderson, the attorney for the men.

Attorney Donald Heaney, who represented the Madison diocese, said it wouldn't make sense for any employer to have to track former workers for the rest of their lives.

"We don't have a continuing duty to try to find out who in the world needs to be warned about something that may or may not happen," he said.

The Diocese of Milwaukee did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The plaintiffs accused the Wisconsin dioceses of covering up the teacher's abuse of dozens of children in the 1960s while he taught at Catholic schools in Madison and Milwaukee.

The men were among 243 plaintiffs compensated under a $25.7 million church abuse settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville. They were all under age 15 when they were sexually abused by Kazmarek, a Catholic school teacher and coach in Louisville. Continued...