DENVER (CO)
KGW
08/20/2005
By COLLEEN SLEVIN / Associated Press
With two sexual-abuse lawsuits already filed against the Archdiocese of Denver and more threatened, church leaders and the alleged victims will likely take an interest in the legal wrangling over financial assets that followed similar abuse allegations in Portland, Ore., and Spokane, Wash., church observers said Friday.
Two men filed lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Denver this week, with one seeking at least $10 million, and their attorneys said more were likely to come. Both men claim they were abused by former priest Harold Robert White and that the archdiocese knew about other victims at the time but protected White by shuffling him around between parishes.
The Denver archdiocese has declined to comment on the cases, the first it's faced since the sexual abuse scandal broke in 2002.
Since then, church officials in Portland, Spokane and Tucson, Ariz., have filed for bankruptcy protection because of sex abuse claims. Tucson reached an agreement with the alleged victims but the cases in Spokane and Portland are still pending, with parishes in Oregon trying to limit the claims of the alleged victims by arguing that their assets don't belong to the archdiocese.
It is an argument likely to come up in Denver if the lawsuits are successful: What church assets are at stake? Does a diocese own all its individual churches and related property or just a few buildings and bank accounts?