BishopAccountability.org
	Sides to Vet Abuse Claims By Paul A. Long The Cincinnati Post [Covington KY] November 22, 2005 With more than 370 people seeking their share of a $120 million fund created from the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington, attorneys now must go through the laborious process of validating those claims. That will mean meeting with people to listen to their stories of alleged abuse at the hands of diocesan priests and employees, then trying to determine where they fit into a matrix established to quantify their abuse and put a dollar figure on it. The plan calls for payments of $5,000 to as much as $450,000 for extraordinary cases. During a hearing Monday in Boone Circuit Court, attorneys told Special Judge John Potter they had received 373 claim forms, the first time a specific number was put on the class-action lawsuit alleging that diocesan officials perpetrated a decades-long cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by priests and other church employees. Nov. 10 was the deadline for people who wanted to make claims in the class-action. Attorneys on both sides said they believe most of the 373 claims are legitimate. "A significant number, we're not going to have any questions that they are valid," said Carrie Huff, a Chicago attorney who represents the Diocese of Covington. "I don't think we'll have a problem with many of these claims." Robert Steinberg, the Cincinnati attorney who filed the class-action lawsuit with his partner, Stan Chesley, said some of the claims will be easily invalidated. One, for instance, is from a man who said he was abused by a priest in Baltimore, he said. On the whole, though, he said, "I think a very significant number are valid." In a report in February 2004, the Diocese of Covington said it had received 205 allegations of abuse since 1950. The 373 probably include some of those people, and they might also include those who already have settled individual actions against the diocese. They would not be eligible for the class action. By early 2004, the Covington Diocese reported that it and its insurance carriers had paid $14.2 million to resolve more than 50 individual claims. In the Diocese of Lexington - at one time part of the Covington Diocese - 31 cases were settled for more than $5 million. In the class-action settlement, the diocese agreed to create a $120 million fund to pay damages to those abused, the largest such settlement in the nation thus far. "We believe we have enough funding to pay the claims, now that we know the numbers," Huff said. "There are no big surprises." In the settlement, the diocese asserted it never participated in a cover-up of the abuse. During Monday's hearing, attorneys said they would like to start paying claims by the middle of April. That date, however, is dependant on at least two things: the settlement of a federal lawsuit forcing the diocese's insurance carriers to pay their share of the $120 million and Potter's final approval after a fairness hearing scheduled for Jan. 9. Attorneys said the lawsuit against the insurance companies is close to a settlement. Of the $120 million, the diocese could pay up to $40 million, with the rest coming from insurance companies.
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