(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) 'Three men who claim childhood sexual abuse bypriests can pursue damages from the Vatican in a negligence lawsuit, afederal judge ruled Thursday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II lets the menpursue their claim that top church officials should have warned thepublic or local authorities of known or suspected sexual abuse ofchildren by priests in the Archdiocese of Louisville.

WilliamMcMurry, the plaintiffs' attorney, said the ruling could open the wayto take depositions of Vatican officials and to get copies of churchrecords and documents.

"Our whole purpose is to hold the Vatican accountable," McMurry said.

Vatican officials declined to comment.

Manylawsuits stemming from the U.S. clergy sex abuse crisis have named thepope, the Vatican and other high-ranking church officials but havefailed.

The Holy See is typically immune from thejurisdiction of U.S. courts under the U.S. Foreign Sovereign ImmunityAct. Plaintiffs' lawyers who have sought to challenge that protectionoften could not serve Vatican officials with the papers, among otherlogistical problems.

McMurry is seeking to have the lawsuitcertified as a class action, alleging thousands of victims existnationwide. McMurry represented 243 sex abuse victims that settled withthe Archdiocese of Louisville in 2003 for $25.3 million.

The lawsuit seeks unspecific damages.

Oneof the three plaintiffs is Michael Turner of Louisville, who also filedthe first lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Louisville. Turner wasmolested by the Rev. Louis E. Miller in the 1970s while attending St.Aloysius Church in Pewee Valley.

Miller was removed fromthe priesthood last year by the late Pope John Paul II after pleadingguilty in 2003 to sexually abusing Turner and other children inKentucky. He is serving a 13-year prison sentence.

Theother two plaintiffs, James H. O'Bryan and Donald E. Poppe, have notsettled with any diocese, McMurry has said. Both live in California andallege that they were abused by priests while growing up in Louisville.

O'Bryancontends he was abused by a "Father Lawrence" at St. Cecilia Church inwestern Louisville in 1928. An archdiocesan spokeswoman has said a Rev.Lawrence Kuntz worked at St. Cecelia from 1928 to 1935 and died in 1952.

Poppealleges he was molested by the Rev. Arthur Wood, who died in 1983 andwas named as an abuser by 39 plaintiffs who settled with thearchdiocese.

In June, a federal court in Oregon issued asimilar decision, ruling there was enough of a link between the Vaticanand an accused priest for him to be considered a Vatican employee underOregon law. That ruling has been appealed.