BishopAccountability.org
	Judge Bars Fee for Attorney in Lawsuit against Diocese By Paul A. Long Kentucky Post May 12, 2007 http://news.kypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070512/NEWS02/705120320/1014 A Covington attorney committed numerous, egregious ethical violations in her work on a class-action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington and deserves no part of an estimated $18.5 million pool for lawyers' fees from the settlement of the case, a special judge has ruled. Judge Robert McGinnis, in a ruling Friday from the bench after hearing more than two days of evidence, said Barbara Bonar left the lawsuit on her own accord, and thus is not entitled to be paid. "The ethical violations was cause for your removal as class counsel if you didn't leave," McGinnis said. During his ruling, McGinnis slammed Bonar's conduct, saying it harmed one group of her clients - members of the class who were victims of priest sexual abuse - to benefit other clients, those who cases she settled outside the main lawsuit. "She was serving two masters ... when she was supposed to be serving the class," said McGinnis, a circuit judge in Harrison, Robertson, Pendleton and Nicholas counties who was appointed to oversee the implementation of the lawsuit settlement. "I'm seeing actions detrimental ... to the class during your entire service." Indeed, said Cincinnati attorney Robert Steinberg, one of the lead attorneys in the class-action lawsuit, Bonar's actions continue to hurt the victims. Instead of concentrating on verifying their claims and paying their monetary awards, he and other lawyers have been distracted by having to defend themselves against Bonar's false charges, he said. "Her clients have gotten their settlements, and she's gotten her fees (from them), while the class members are still waiting," he said. Bonar declined to comment after the judge's ruling. Her attorney, Bill Rambicure of Lexington, said he was "very, very disappointed." "What every lawyers wants and what every client deserves is a judge not afraid to make opinions and issue orders," he said. "The judge certainly did that. We respectively disagree." He said McGinnis' rulings before the trial limited some of the evidence Bonar could have presented and the issues she could have raised. For instance, he said, he had some witnesses he said would have questioned the credibility of Steinberg and other witnesses, but the judge ruled they were not relevant. No decision has been made about an appeal, he said. The lawsuit was filed in 2003 and alleged a 50-year cover-up by the diocese of its priests sexually abusing young people. In 2006, the diocese agreed to pay up to $85 million to settle the claims. Stan Chesley, the nationally known Cincinnati attorney who filed the lawsuit with Steinberg and other attorneys, said the judge's ruling vindicates the actions he and his firm have taken. The settlement is a model for the nation, and McGinnis' ruling upheld the efforts that went into the agreement, Chesley said. "I'm very pleased with what the court had to say," Chesley said. "It's so important to maintain the integrity of the class." Bonar maintained that she should receive a share of the attorney fees because she was instrumental in gathering information about the case and signing up clients. Chesley and Steinberg said she did little work and brought in no clients for the class. She said she was pushed out, and alleged fraud at the way the case was certified as a class action. But McGinnis called that charge a "smokescreen" to hide her own ethical failings. Her settling of cases outside the class, her efforts to hide those settlements from other attorneys in the case, and her denigration of the class-action efforts in news articles about her settlements all violated her obligation to her clients in the class-action lawsuit, McGinnis said. Again, Rambicure disagreed. "Barbara Bonar is an outstanding lawyer and adviser," he said. "I don't think the judge's decision accurately reflects that."
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