CLEVELAND (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Saturday, April 15, 2006
James F. McCarty
Plain Dealer Reporter
The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland will pay a substantial settlement and apologize to a sex-abuse victim and his parents under terms of a tentative agreement reached this week in a defamation lawsuit.
Christopher Kodger, 39, of Homer, Alaska, who joined his parents in the suit filed against the diocese in 2003, was prepared to return to Ohio for a trial April 24 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
But he said Thurs day that a trial will be unnecessary after dioc esan officials agreed to compensate the Kodg ers with a significant award - believed to be about $500,000 - after Bishop Anthony Pilla writes a letter of apology for a potentially libelous statement.
"They can tell the truth on the witness stand or they can apologize," Kodger said in a telephone interview. "Either way they pay."
An attorney for the diocese did not return a call seeking comment.
Diocesan spokesman Bob Tayek said settlement discussions had been held, but he declined to say if an agreement had been reached.