BURLINGTON (KY)
Kentucky.com
BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press
BURLINGTON, Ky. - A judge postponed a decision whether to approve a proposed $120 million class-action settlement over sexual abuse by Catholic priests in northern Kentucky.
A hearing scheduled for Thursday is now set for July 5. Neither the diocese nor the plaintiffs requested that Judge John W. Potter of Louisville delay the hearing.
The delay came two weeks after Potter, a retired Jefferson County circuit judge appointed 18 months ago as a special judge in the Boone County case, ordered attorneys to rewrite the public notices of the settlement.
Potter took issue with the references to a $120 million settlement, saying the church did not have that amount on hand and he wanted the notices to specify that.
Diocese attorney Carrie Huff and plaintiff's lawyer Stan Chesley said they sent Potter a new public notice before Thursday, then got word that the hearing was postponed.