CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Lawyers asked a judge Friday to order nine clergy-abuse cases against the Los Angeles Archdiocese to trial within the next nine months.
Attorneys for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and for their opponents, who represent more than 560 people suing the archdiocese for allegedly failing to protect them from predatory priests, teamed in the request, saying efforts to settle the lawsuits had stalled.
The two sides, along with the archdiocese's insurers, have been at the negotiating table for nearly three years, trying to hammer out a global legal settlement that could approach $1 billion.
Both the archdiocese's and the plaintiffs' attorneys blame the impasse on the insurers, which have sued, demanding that the archdiocese hand over documents about the alleged sexual abuse by priests.
"We are not able to get anywhere near the levels of sincere participation from our carriers," said attorney J. Michael Hennigan, who represents Mahony.