ORANGE (CA)
The Mercury News
GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
ORANGE, Calif. - When Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange Tod D. Brown agreed to a record $100 million clergy abuse settlement, even some of his toughest critics praised him as a moral champion of the church.
But Brown said he was just making a practical - if financially painful - decision intended to protect his million-member diocese from fiscal and moral bankruptcy.
If the settlement talks had collapsed, a judge promised to set trial dates for the 87 lawsuits and start depositions and discovery. The bishop said he couldn't take that risk in a state where a jury once awarded $30 million to two people who claimed they were sexually abused by clergy.
"We knew that we could go to a certain point this side of bankruptcy and this settlement is the edge - it brings us to the brink," Brown said. "Had we not settled and had gone to trial, it would be just a question of time until we reached that total that forced us into bankruptcy."
Posted by kshaw at December 10, 2004 03:31 PM