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	Judge in LA Priest-Abuse Cases Asked to Step down Associated Press, carried in The Press-Enterprise May 8, 2007 http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Cal_Church_Abuse_286812C.shtml Los Angeles — The judge overseeing hundreds of sexual-abuse lawsuits against the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese should remove himself because of bias, an attorney argued. Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz "has stepped outside of the court's proper role of 'neutral arbiter,'" attorney Steven Zelig said in court documents filed Monday. Zelig, who represents plaintiffs in some of the cases, argued that Fromholz had repeatedly acted unfairly toward him and his clients. He asked that Fromholz recuse himself from his cases and that his rulings be voided, the Los Angeles Daily Journal reported Tuesday. Fromholz, who has 10 days to file a written response, could not immediately be reached for comment. An e-mail requesting comment was sent to the court's media office. A call to Zelig was not immediately returned. Fromholz was appointed in 2004 as the coordination trial judge in hundreds of lawsuits that contend the archdiocese failed to protect children from sexual abuse by priests. The archdiocese said in December that it would pay $60 million to settle 45 lawsuits by people who claimed they were abused by priests, but more than 400 others are still pending. Fromholz has set trial dates in June, July and August for 20 suits.
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