BishopAccountability.org
	Judge to Rule on Allowing Sex-Abuse Trials in San Diego Diocese By Allison Hoffman Mercury News August 23, 2007 http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6700372?nclick_check=1 SAN DIEGO—A federal bankruptcy judge said Thursday she would decide by Monday whether to allow immediate civil trials in as many as 42 sex-abuse cases pending against the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler issued a preliminary ruling late Wednesday night tentatively granting the plaintiffs' request for state court trials, but said she needed to weigh additional issues brought up in oral arguments before making a final decision. San Diego Superior Court trials already scheduled for five cases were automatically suspended when the diocese abruptly filed for bankruptcy in February, the night before the first trial was slated to begin. Lawyers representing about 150 people who claim they were sexually abused by priests as children told Adler that re-activating those trials was the only way to force the diocese into a settlement after more than three years of fruitless negotiations in state and federal courts. "A trial is something that drives settlement, maybe because we're afraid we'll lose, maybe because there are things they don't want to have come out on the stand," said James Stang, a bankruptcy lawyer representing the plaintiffs. "It worked in L.A., it worked in Orange, and it will work here." The Los Angeles Archdiocese settled 508 cases for $660 million in July, two days before jury selection was scheduled to begin in the first of 15 trials involving 172 abuse claimants. The Diocese of Orange agreed to settle 90 claims for $100 million in 2004 after a judge promised to set trial dates and begin the discovery process if settlement talks collapsed. Bishop Tod D. Brown later said he couldn't risk a trial in a state where a jury once awarded $30 million to two people who claimed they were sexually abused by clergy. The San Diego diocese has offered about $94 million to settle the claims as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan. Plaintiffs' attorneys are seeking a settlement of about $200 million, which they say would put San Diego in line with settlements reached elsewhere in California. In her tentative ruling, Adler said jury trials were an efficient way of valuing claims against the diocese and accused the church of shopping its case to different courts to seek the best advantage. A district court judge decided earlier this week to hold off on a church request to assign a federal judge to estimate fair settlements for the abuse claims. Attorneys representing the diocese told Adler they were looking for the fastest and most efficient way to reach a fair deal for both sides. "This case is about plaintiffs who want lots of money," said John Harris, a diocese attorney. "But $94 million is not zero, and the way to resolve this is through an estimation." Another lawyer likened setting state court trial dates for individual cases to detonating a bomb in the middle of a bankruptcy proceeding designed to handle all of the abuse claims collectively. "Our perception is that a detonation charge isn't necessary," said Michael McGrath, who represents the Diocese of San Bernardino, which is named as a co-defendant in some abuse claims that occurred prior to 1978, when it split from San Diego. "You can hold people's feet to the fire without fractionalizing this and sending it out to different forums." Adler said she would issue a final ruling no later than Monday. The judge has repeatedly tried to pin down the diocese in her rulings, including an April threat to find its attorneys in contempt of court for instructions allegedly given to individual parishes about financial matters. That order was not finalized, but Adler appointed an outside auditor to examine church finances. Also Thursday, Adler heard testimony from Todd Neilson, the auditor whose report was highly critical of the way the diocese and individual parishes kept track of their finances. Adler, who has found the church misrepresented its finances in multiple filings, has scheduled a separate hearing for Sept. 6 asking the diocese to explain why it qualifies for bankruptcy protection. Neilson was careful not to ascribe "sinister motives" to the church, but said in some cases the diocese had behaved like a "neglectful parent" with regard to the parishes, particularly with respect to $19 million that went missing from church accounts. "This money was not stolen. It was there and it was moved to another account," Neilson said. Neilson told the judge he was still untangling hundreds of bank accounts and title documents to determine what belonged to the diocese and what belonged to parishes. With nearly 1 million Catholics and holdings throughout San Diego County, the diocese is by far the largest and wealthiest of the five U.S. dioceses to have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the shadow of civil claims over sexual abuse. Dioceses in Spokane, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Tucson, Ariz., have already emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Davenport, Iowa, diocese, which faces claims from more than 150 people, is still in proceedings.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.