BishopAccountability.org
	Sex Abuse Settlement Talks Planned By Stephanie Barry and Buffy Spencer The Republican October 27, 2007 http://www.masslive.com/chicopeeholyoke/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1193471423118450.xml&coll=1 SPRINGFIELD - A second wave of clergy abuse victims is moving closer to a financial settlement as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield makes headway in a long-running dispute with its insurance carriers. Lawyers for the diocese, the claimants and an insurance carrier yesterday confirmed the parties have agreed to enter nonbinding settlement talks in the 2-year old lawsuit. More than three dozen people have sued the diocese for sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of Catholic priests once affiliated with the diocese. The diocese settled a previous round of claims for $7.7 million in 2004. Whether the new claimants were abused appears undisputed. The question is, who will pay them? The insurance carriers refused to cover claims of negligent supervision, leaving the diocese to pay the 2004 settlement with its own funds. It has been shown that higher-ups in this diocese and beyond shuffled priests from parish to parish, despite evidence of repeated sexual abuse of young parishioners. It is on this basis that the insurance carriers have refused to honor the old claims and resist paying new ones. They argue generally that the cover-up exceeded mere mismanagement and should not be covered under the policy. The most notorious abuser in the diocese is the now-defrocked Richard R. Lavigne. He was also a suspect in the unsolved murder of choir boy Daniel Croteau in the 1970s. Other priests have been exposed as abusers. Former Bishop Thomas L. Dupre abruptly retired and fled to a treatment center in Maryland after allegations of sexual abuse were made against him in 2004. Sources familiar with the case say Dupre remains at the treatment center and is resisting an interrogation in this case, despite a previous agreement to assent to a deposition as a witness. Michael O. Jennings, a lawyer for Dupre, said his client has never been served with a subpoena to testify and the matter has been referred to a lawyer in Maryland. There are separate civil claims pending against the former bishop in state and federal court. Edward J. McDonough Jr., a lawyer for the diocese, said his client hopes to recoup from insurance carriers all of the prior settlement, plus attorney's fees, and secure coverage for the pending claims. "We're very happy that the insurance carriers are willing to sit down at the table ... and expedite compensation to the victims," McDonough said during an interview yesterday. Potential settlement and other matters will be discussed at a motion hearing Monday in Pittsfield Superior Court before Judge John A. Agostini. Robert L. Kirby, a Boston lawyer representing the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund, said yesterday he expects the parties will begin mediation early next year. "Since the mediation is nonbinding, it means you're going to try to settle the case. It's by no means a foregone conclusion that the case will settle," he said. The Insolvency Fund is a state agency created to provide last-resort relief for claims covered by insurance companies that folded. One of five insurance carriers the diocese used over the four decades covered in the of claims went out of business. Claimants' lawyer John J. Stobierski, of Greenfield, said that agency has taken a particularly hard line with the diocese. "All other dioceses have resolved these cases ... this insurance dispute has denied these victims a resolution," he said. Stobierski estimated there are more than 40 victims involved. One sticking point recently resolved is the insurance carriers' insistence that the claimants submit to interrogations. Stobierski has resisted. Instead, claimants have agreed to answer seven questions under oath. These include: dates of abuse; location and general nature of abuse; whether anyone else knew of the abuse; if so, who; when the diocese was informed of the abuse; any indication that the diocese knew or should have known of the abuse; what damage the victims suffered as a result.
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