DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Todd Ruger
Three of 14 men who settled lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Davenport Catholic Diocese decades ago have decided to drop their cases against the individual priests.
The three men want to try to move on with their lives instead of pursuing the lawsuits, filed against former priest James Janssen and retired Rev. Francis Bass, said Craig Levien, the Quad-City attorney for the three men.
“They did not think that the mental distress to them in continuing to go through the litigation process would be worth the benefit to proceed with a trial against an individual priest,” Levien said.
The dismissals came among filings made Wednesday that dismissed the diocese — but not the priests — from lawsuits as part of a $9 million settlement reached with 37 people who claimed sexual abuse by priests.
Posted by kshaw at January 15, 2005 08:47 AM