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Diocese lawsuits, deficit climb

When Vermont's Catholic Church settled the first of a string of priest misconduct lawsuits for almost $1 million last spring, p

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http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070204/NEWS04/702040358/1024/NEWS04
 
Diocese lawsuits, deficit climb
 
When Vermont's Catholic Church settled the first of a string of priestmisconduct lawsuits for almost $1 million last spring, parishionersquestioned how quickly — and at what cost — the diocese would resolvethe rest of the cases.

A year later, they're still wondering.

Thestate's largest religious denomination, which faced 16 more cases afterlast April's record $965,000 settlement, has seen the number rise to26. A diocesan deficit of $127,947 at the start of the last fiscal yearhas ballooned tenfold because of the lawsuits. And a longtime churchlawyer has just launched a third attempt to disqualify the judge who ishearing the cases.

It was five years ago this month that thestatewide Diocese of Burlington, shortly after news of a clergymisconduct scandal hit Boston, received complaints that several of itspriests had sexually abused children.

The Vermont church said itwould investigate. So did state Attorney General William Sorrell, whotold the diocese in February 2002 that he wanted to see its personnelfiles. But Sorrell didn't receive anything for three months, and thenonly after he publicly voiced disapproval with the diocese for notturning over its records.

Five years later, more than two dozenmen and at least one woman have civil lawsuits pending against thediocese and nine of its priests. The accusers, who filed their chargesin Chittenden Superior Court as long as three years ago, don'tunderstand why it's taking so much time and so many motions to bringtheir cases to trial.

The diocese says it's just looking for justice.

"Icertainly don't think it's ethical for me to deny my client the rightto have issues reviewed in the interest of due process," church lawyerDavid Cleary of Rutland says. "This is taking its normal course. Thenormal time to trial is somewhere between two to three years after asuit is filed."

But accusers believe the church has stalled ever since news of the scandal broke.

"Thediocese claims to care, but as far as my clients are concerned, actionsspeak louder than words," says Burlington lawyer Jerome O'Neill, who isrepresenting all 26 plaintiffs. "The diocese has no interest in gettingthese cases resolved promptly. It uses any procedural mechanism thatwill slow a case down."

The Vermont church acknowledgedcomplaints about priest misconduct in February 2002 but didn't takeaction until that May, when it gave the state its files on six activepriests — all unnamed but placed on leave — and more than a dozenretired clergymen.

The attorney general determined all themisconduct, dating back as far as five decades, occurred after thestate's statutes of limitations for criminal prosecution had run out.But accusers can press charges through civil lawsuits and began to doso in June 2002.

The diocese settled at least four cases for atotal of nearly $400,000 by 2004 — a year capped by a then-record$150,000 payment to end what the church thought was the last lawsuit.

Butthat settlement was merely the beginning. As part of the $150,000agreement, the diocese admitted it knew at least one priest had facedsexual misconduct charges as early as seminary but was transferredrepeatedly to unsuspecting parishes, even after the Vatican was askedto defrock him upon determination he was guilty of child abuse.

Thatunprecedented admission sparked a second round of lawsuits. The churchsettled the first of those cases for $965,000 last April, just hoursbefore trial and just after O'Neill said he had evidence of more than adozen church letters confirming problems with pedophilia and was readyto ask a jury for up to $5 million in damages.

At the time,church leaders said they were open to settling the rest of the lawsuitsif they could agree to affordable terms that wouldn't cut into fundingfor the diocese's 128 parishes and 118,000 members.

"I want tobe sensitive to victims, but I don't want to inflict pain on innocentparishioners," Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano said lastspring.

But since then, the number of lawsuits has onlyincreased, while lawyers with ties to the diocese have filed twounsuccessful motions to disqualify the judge who presided over therecord settlement and is hearing the next two cases.

In thefirst of those lawsuits, Neil Morrissette, 47, alleges that the Rev.George Paulin, 63, sexually abused him when he was a 13-year-old memberof Newport's St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in 1971.

That trialwas supposed to start last September. After a series of delays, thecase now is scheduled to be heard in March, although lawyersacknowledge they're talking about a possible settlement.

TheMorrissette lawsuit, filed in 2004, is a good example of howcomplicated a case can grow. Judge Ben Joseph began by asking churchlawyer William M. O'Brien of Winooski to share the priest's personnelrecords with the accuser and his attorney. Shortly thereafter, O'Brienhanded over a stack of paperwork, saying "this was all … the diocesehad at this time."

But Morrissette didn't receive anything fromthe years 1971 to 1997. Last summer, his lawyer accused the church ofwithholding 27 years of records. Last fall, the diocese produced theremaining paperwork with an explanation that the information had beenmisfiled and had just been found.

Joseph ordered a hearing,saying, "I think there's been some wrongdoing here, but I don't knowwho did it. And I don't know the scope of it, and I don't know howserious it is in the context of the case. I haven't made any decisionswith that regard."

But O'Brien, focused on the word"wrongdoing," believed the judge already had made up his mind about thesituation. On the morning of the hearing last November, the churchlawyer stopped the proceedings by filing a motion to bar Joseph fromconsidering sanctions.

State Administrative Judge Amy Davenportdenied that request last month. But O'Brien filed a motion last weekasking her to reconsider Joseph's disqualification, saying the basis ofher latest decision was "simply wrong."

O'Neill, speaking for the plaintiffs, says the church's collective motions have delayed the trials by months.

"It prolongs the agony of the victims," O'Neill says. "They can't understand why the diocese doesn't want to resolve the cases."

Thechurch's problems aren't confined to the past. In addition to the 26civil lawsuits, the diocese is following the case of the Rev. StephenJ. Nichols, a 47-year-old priest who faces a felony charge of lewd andlascivious conduct for allegedly fondling a naked 18-year-old man in2005. That case, brought to Franklin District Court in St. Albans bythe state attorney general's office, is on track to go to trial inApril.

The church also is suing its former insurer in U.S.District Court in Burlington in hopes of recovering legal fees andsettlement costs for alleged abuse that took place in the 1970s.

Thediocese doesn't have insurance for priest misconduct, but says it helda comprehensive liability policy with the United States Fidelity andGuaranty Co. from 1973 to 1978. The church can't find its copy of thepolicy, however, so it has taken the insurer to court in hopes thecompany will unearth the paperwork and pay for the church's legal feesand settlement costs.

The former insurer, known as USF&G, isnow part of the St. Paul Travelers Companies of St. Paul, Minn. It hasagreed to pay the diocese's legal fees for all pending cases whoseallegations took place during the policy period. But the insurer saysit shouldn't have to cover settlement costs if it can prove the churchknew of past misconduct but continued to employ an offending priest.

Theinsurer now is examining church records to see what the diocese knew.The church, for its part, hopes the court will rule on all contestedmatters by spring.

The diocese could use the money. It reports adeficit of $1.3 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30 — mostof that representing a loan covering the record $965,000 settlement.

Thebishop, in a report to parishioners, noted "no funds intended forcharitable or ministerial services" have been used to pay forsettlements.

"While these cases date back many years, and inseveral instances decades ago, we must now deal effectively with thesevery sad and disturbing circumstances, seeking always to do what isright, just and charitable for all parties concerned," Matano wrote.

Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.

Diocese lawsuits, deficit climb

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