BishopAccountability.org
	Outcome of First Case May Not Be Harbinger of Trials to Come By John Curran Boston Globe December 9, 2007 http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/12/09/outcome_of_first_case_may_not_be_harbinger_of_trials_to_come/ BURLINGTON, Vt.—When a jury finally got his case, a former Northeast Kingdom man who sued the Diocese of Burlington over his alleged molestation by a priest was hoping for a seven-figure payday. more stories like this He was awarded only $15,000, though, and may not get even that. But the church, which has already paid out about $1.5 million in settlements and faces about two dozen more suits by alleged victims of pedophile priests, has bigger challenges in the other suits seeking to hold it liable for the actions of its priests. Turner's lawyer says that case was the weakest of more than 25 he has filed against the church over sex abuse by rogue priests in that it contained no documented evidence that church leaders had prior notice of sexual misconduct by former Rev. Alfred Willis. On Tuesday, a jury in Chittenden Superior Court found that the Diocese had failed to adequately protect the 47-year-old Virginia Beach, Va., man from since-defrocked Willis, whom he said molested him in 1977. But the panel said Turner, who didn't file suit until 2004, did so too late and that his claim was nullified by the statute of limitations. The low damage award and statute of limitations finding were victories for the Diocese. When asked after the trial what impact the Turner verdict would have on the other cases, Diocesan lawyer Thomas McCormick said: "That remains to be seen." "We'd hope to resolve these," he said. "No one wants to make a lifetime career of trying these cases. The bishop would very much like to be doing the business of being a bishop full-time, rather than spending his time in the litigation process. "It's a cost for everybody -- it's a cost for the victims, it's a cost for the Diocese. It would be good to have it all behind us," he said. That's not likely --for now. Jerome O'Neill, who represented Turner and other plaintiffs suing the Diocese, said he expects jury selection to begin next month for the next trial, although it's unclear whether that will be a suit dealing with former priest Edward Paquette, who worked in Burlington, Montpelier and Rutland between 1972 and 1978, or another one involving Willis. In both, the plaintiffs say the Diocese knew of prior sexual misconduct by the priests before the acts that form the basis of the allegations. "This verdict doesn't change the landscape for us one iota," said Jerome O'Neill, the lawyer that handled the Turner case and filed the others. "We thought there was a good chance of losing this. We thought liability was a major challenge in this case, but we were successful. "In at least 20 of our other 25, we can show the Diocese knew unequivocally that it had a pedophile priest before he abused our clients. In some instances, we can show they knew of multiple episodes of abuse and had moved the priest (to another parish) more than once," O'Neill said.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.