Record deal in clergy abuse suits
By Gillian Flaccus
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:49 a.m. December 4, 2004
LOS ANGELES - It appears too early to say whether the
record-breaking $100 million clergy sex abuse settlement
reached by the Roman Catholic Dicoese of Orange and 87
plaintiffs will be used as a blueprint for the settlement
of hundreds of other cases around the country.
The agreement, reached late Thursday and expected to be
finalized as soon as Monday, surpasses the previous record
of $85 million awarded to 552 victims of clergy abuse in
Boston in 2003.
It hasn't been made public how much of the settlement
insurers will cover and how much the archdiocese will have
to provide. That makes it difficult to determine if similar
agreements could be reached to resolve hundreds of other
cases elsewhere in California.
About 500 lawsuits are pending against the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles, with about 300 more spread out across the rest
of the state.
"One signal it sends is this can be done. A second signal
is if this can be done, at least some dioceses will come up
with big bucks. Both of those things are important," said
Richard Marcus, a professor at the Hastings College of Law
at the University of California, San Francisco.
But Ray Boucher, lead counsel for all Southern California
plaintiffs, said the settlement doesn't mean other
California dioceses will follow suit. The Los Angeles
Catholic Archdiocese, in particular, is a challenge because
of the hundreds of plaintiffs involved, he said.
"It means very little for Los Angeles. It's so large that
unless Los Angeles gets full participation from its
insurance carriers it's a very long, hard hill to climb,"
Boucher said.
J. Michael Hennigan, attorney for the Los Angeles
archdiocese, agreed. He said some claims against the
archdiocese date to the early 1930s and attorneys have been
unable to locate insurance coverage for the archdiocese
before the 1950s.
"If our problems were as straightforward as theirs, we'd be
joining them in the settlement," Hennigan said. "The claims
against Orange are much more limited, they're much more
recent and we have a crazy quilt of insurance."
The significance of the settlement for dioceses outside of
California is unclear. The amount of payouts in clergy
abuse cases depends on many local factors, including the
wealth of individual dioceses, whether insurers will cover
any of the costs, the extent of the molestation and whether
local church officials took action to end the abuse.
Also, alleged victims in other states have not had the same
opportunity as those in California to bring forward old
claims. While some states extended the statute of
limitations for bringing abuse claims, California was the
only one that abolished the restriction entirely for one
year, giving people a window of opportunity during that
time to pursue their cases.
One thing the Diocese of Orange settlement appears to have
done is brought closure to a number of victims. Some
personally thanked Bishop Tod D. Brown for his courage and
willingness to resolve their cases.
"It's like a big weight lifted off my shoulders. Finally
it's stopped, it's over," said Max Fisher, a 40-year-old
plaintiff from Anaheim. "Last night, Bishop Brown came up
to me personally and apologized, and that meant more to me
than anything."
Some churchgoers also expressed satisfaction that the
matter has been resolved.
"I really just feel compassion for everyone, even the
priests who are accused," said Maria del Carmen Aguirre
Lopez, 67, who learned of the agreement while attending
Mass Friday morning in Santa Ana.
Although the settlement was costly, the diocese will not
face bankruptcy or be forced to close any parishes, said
diocese chancellor Shirl Giacomi.
The diocese's financial statements indicate it had a $171
million investment portfolio and $23.4 million in cash
reserves as of June. Even before the settlement, the
diocese had paid $4.6 million to clergy sex abuse victims
and well over $66,000 for counseling to victims and their
families.
The diocese has been preparing for the possibility of a
large financial settlement for months. It cut staff and
services, including its marriage preparation and family
life counseling services, although volunteers at the parish
level have taken over some of those duties, Giacomi said.
The diocese also suspended planning for three new parishes
in burgeoning Ladera, Irvine and Santa Ana, where Masses
are overflowing.
"It's been a very painful time for the church," Giacomi
said. "What we've had to deal with were the sins of these
sick twisted bastards, they were heinous."