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	$660 Million Will Be Paid to 500 Victims of Clergy By Sandi Dolbee and Mark Sauer Union-Tribune [Los Angeles CA] July 15, 2007 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070715-9999-1n15settle.html The Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay an estimated $660 million to more than 500 victims of child sexual abuse by clergy, making it the largest settlement since the nationwide Roman Catholic scandal erupted in 2002. Sources familiar with the pending agreement said victims would receive, on average, $1.2 million to $1.3 million. The settlement leaves the Diocese of San Diego with the greatest number of unresolved sexual-abuse claims, which several observers said could increase pressure on Bishop Robert Brom to settle the approximately 150 local cases. In February, the San Diego diocese became the largest in the country to seek bankruptcy protection rather than go to trial on the civil lawsuits. A joint announcement about the Los Angeles accord will be released today, and details will be made public tomorrow in Superior Court, said plaintiffs' attorneys Larry Drivon and Raymond Boucher. The first of the civil abuse lawsuits was scheduled to begin tomorrow v and plaintiffs' attorneys have said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony would have been asked to testify. "There are still details to be ironed out, but we have a deal in principle," said Boucher, the lead lawyer who has been negotiating with the archdiocese. Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for Mahony, would not confirm or deny the settlement. "The archdiocese will be in court on Monday morning," Tamberg said yesterday. David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, praised the victims who came forward in Los Angeles in cases that date back decades. "No amount of money can restore hundreds of stolen childhoods, but it's a real tribute to these brave and persistent victims," Clohessy said last night from his St. Louis home. The agreement also calls for the archdiocese to release details from personnel files of abusive priests and other clergy members, along with information that could reveal whether church officials covered up abuse reports, sources said. Under proposed terms of the settlement, the Los Angeles archdiocese and its insurers would each pay about $250 million, with the remainder covered by more than 30 religious orders also named in lawsuits. Payouts are said to range from $100,000 to $3.5 million for the most egregious cases. "If these are the numbers in Los Angeles, that should send a clear message to the San Diego diocese as to what the reasonable settlement value is for these kinds of cases," said attorney Jim Stang, who represents a committee of San Diego plaintiffs in the local diocese's bankruptcy proceeding. Stang noted that the Los Angeles settlement involves every level of abuse, from isolated incidents of indecent exposure and fondling to child rape. "Bishop Brom and his advisers have to take a hard look at this and come to the realization that their settlement position is out of whack with what other bishops have done in California," Stang said. In the San Diego diocese's plan to emerge from bankruptcy, Brom and his attorneys have offered $95 million, roughly an average of $630,000 per victim. Victims' attorneys are seeking double that amount. Boucher said the Los Angeles agreement shows that if Brom has the will, a deal could be reached "very quickly" in San Diego. "The Los Angeles settlement, once it is finalized, should foreshadow what it takes to resolve the cases in San Diego," Boucher said. "Does San Diego, in particular the bishop, have the resolve to do what's right?" But Micheal Webb, the diocese's attorney, said yesterday that a settlement in Los Angeles would have no impact on cases in San Diego and would not push the diocese to increase its offer. "We don't have the money," Webb said. "We're not playing a game here. We have offered what we can afford to offer. "It's like when you purchase anything or pay off any debt; you can't pay what you don't have v and we simply don't have it." One veteran San Diego bankruptcy attorney said, however, that a $660 million settlement in Los Angeles could have a direct impact on what happens locally. "I don't know if there is some other way or reason to value these cases differently in San Diego," said Jim Hill, who is not associated with the diocese's case. "But anytime you're evaluating a settlement in any case, you judge two things: the facts regarding liability, and the ability to pay. The difference between San Diego and Los Angeles could well be the latter," Hill said. Plaintiffs' attorneys say Brom and his insurers can satisfy the 150 claims at statewide values without having to close any churches or schools and without affecting the diocese's religious mission. Mahony recently told Los Angeles parishioners in an open letter that the archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and was considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds for a settlement. "I think (the L.A. settlement) is a testament to the significance and the seriousness of this problem within the Catholic Church," said San Diego attorney Irwin Zalkin. He represents about 30 of the San Diego plaintiffs and one of those in the Los Angeles case set for trial tomorrow. Zalkin said he hopes the San Diego diocese will follow the archdiocese's lead. "Bishop Brom seems to want to devalue the harm that was done to people in San Diego," he said. "There is no reason for that. There is no way we will allow people injured in San Diego to be compensated at half of what other victims (received). It's just unfair." A critical issue in the local bankruptcy case is the diocese's claim that churches, schools and most other property belong to the 98 parishes, not the diocese, and that wealth could not be used to settle the abuse lawsuits. That issue is expected to be litigated this fall in a trial within the bankruptcy proceeding. The ownership question, which is unsettled law based on court decisions in diocese bankruptcies elsewhere, would be moot should the two sides reach a mediated settlement. Webb, the diocese attorney, reiterated that the value of cases elsewhere is not the pertinent factor. "I don't know if they're worth less or worth more," he said. "It's a matter of how much you can pay." Webb said Brom is trying to balance two goals: "to fairly compensate the victims while not crippling the mission of this church." Fair compensation, Webb added, "will be what the church can afford to pay and maintain these missions." U.S. bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler last week reminded attorneys representing the church and the sexual-abuse plaintiffs that they have until mid-August to mediate a settlement. After that, plaintiffs will ask Adler to release several of the sexual-abuse cases for trials in state court. The prospect of airing explicit details of sexual abuse by priests in open court has proved to be a catalyst for settlement in diocese after diocese, attorney Stang said. While church officials have demonstrated no eagerness to testify, many alleged abuse victims have expressed a similar reticence. In San Diego, for example, more than 75 percent of the plaintiffs filed their lawsuits anonymously, as John or Jane Does. A settlement averts the Los Angeles trials v a prospect met with mixed emotions by victims gathered yesterday evening outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels near the archdiocese's headquarters. "The money doesn't fix us," said Esther Miller, a 48-year-old grandmother who said she was molested by a priest at a San Fernando Valley church in the 1970s when she was 16. "It's not like it's all of a sudden eliminated from our lives." The Los Angeles archdiocese, meanwhile, has had other settlements, the largest in December, when the archdiocese agreed to a $60 million payout to 45 people whose claims dated from before the mid-1950s and after 1987. However, more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese had remained unresolved despite years of legal wrangling. Most of the outstanding lawsuits were generated by a state law that in 2003 revoked for one year the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse. Sandi Dolbee: (619) 293-2082; mark.sauer@uniontrib.com Mark Sauer: (619) 293-2227; sandi.dolbee@uniontrib.com
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