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	Judge: Abuse Victim Can Seek Damages against Roman Catholic Diocese for Negligent Supervision Burlington Free Press May 9, 2008 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/NEWS02/80509022 The judge in the Burlington clergy sexual abuse trial involving claims the Rev. Edward Paquette repeatedly fondled an altar boy in the 1970s said the victim can seek punitive damages against the state's Roman Catholic diocese for negligent supervision of the priest. "Plaintiff here has presented evidence that this errant priest had an almost 10-year history of molesting young boys, in his role as priest," Judge Matthew Katz wrote in an order issued late Thursday. "This diocese had notice of that problem." Katz acknowledged in his ruling that the diocese has yet to put on its case but said the evidence that the diocese knew about Paquette's past history as a child sexual abuser and did not appear to have supervised him accordingly. "The evidence of actual supervision is actually noteworthy for its total absence," Katz wrote. The ruling is significant because large-money figures are often involved when a jury is allowed to award punitive damages. The case is in its fifth day. Friday morning, the alleged victim's wife and five former altar boys testified on behalf of the plaintiff in the case, a 40 year-old man now living in Colorado.
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