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	Judge: Church May Face Costly Damages By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald May 10, 2008 http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/NEWS04/805100355 A judge has ruled that a jury can consider punitive as well as compensatory damages against Vermont's Catholic Church in a priest misconduct trial under way in Chittenden Superior Court. "Ordinarily, negligence does not suffice to justify an award of punitive damages," Judge Matthew Katz wrote in a decision released Friday. "Yet high courts in other states have approved punitive damage awards against dioceses, in cases involving negligent supervision of priests known to be molesters." Vermont's largest religious denomination is defending itself in a civil lawsuit brought by Perry Babel, a 40-year-old Burlington native who alleges the diocese was negligent in its hiring and supervision of former priest Edward Paquette. Babel, now of Denver, Colo., claims the diocese didn't stop Paquette from repeatedly fondling him 30 years ago when he was an altar boy at Burlington's Christ the King Church. His case is based on personnel records that show the diocese transferred Paquette to the state's largest city without telling anyone it knew the priest had molested boys first in Massachusetts, then in Indiana and the Vermont cities of Rutland and Montpelier. "Plaintiff here has presented evidence that this errant priest had an almost 10-year history of molesting young boys in his role as priest," Katz wrote this week after hearing four days of testimony. The judge referred to confidential church papers presented by Babel's lawyer, Jerome O'Neill, that showed the diocese received warnings about Paquette — "The dossier is large and the history is long," one letter began — from Catholic leaders in Indiana. "This diocese had notice of that problem," the judge wrote. "It knew that he was no longer an acceptable priest in the diocese of Fort Wayne-Evansville. It knew that a Fort Wayne monsignor wrote a letter of recommendation which is anything but; it is virtually bursting with what is missing." Vermont church elders testified earlier this week that they believed it was Indiana's responsibility to forward all records of the priest's past misbehavior, including that which took place in his home state of Massachusetts. But the judge didn't appear to agree with the Burlington-based diocese. "It knew," Katz wrote, "that the priest originally hailed from Massachusetts and must have been doing something between graduation from seminary and commencing priestly duties in Fort Wayne, but that its records were silent on the obvious gap in the history of a troublesome young priest. Nevertheless, the priest was taken on." The judge went on to refer to a March 30, 1972, letter in which Indiana church leaders, noting Paquette's "three homosexual episodes involving young boys," suggested the priest be assigned to an "institutional chaplaincy" rather than a community church so he could minister "with less likelihood of relapse." "This diocese was told by Fort Wayne not to assign the priest to be alone in a parish," Katz wrote. "At that point, the evidence of actual supervision is actually noteworthy for its total absence. There is no evidence that the parish priest in Rutland was told to carefully monitor Father Paquette, or warn the parents of youngsters, or specifically warn the priest or engage in any other supervisory efforts." The judge noted how the diocese assigned Paquette to Rutland's Christ the King Church in 1972 before moving him to Montpelier's St. Augustine's Church in 1974. "The priest molested young boys and the diocese heard about it," Katz wrote. "At that point, the priest was transferred to the Montpelier parish. Again, an absence of evidence of supervision. Again, molestation of young boys. Again, a transfer, this time to plaintiff's parish in Burlington. Here, plaintiff and others are molested." Paquette, who arrived at Burlington's Christ the King Church in 1976, was dismissed in 1978. "Plaintiff suggests his evidence shows that concern for the boys was absent throughout," the judge wrote. "Plaintiff's evidence can also be read to suggest that defendant's concern throughout was the avoidance of 'scandal,' a word of possibly special meaning — bringing the church into ill repute." "Viewing the evidence, we must conclude that it is quite comparable to what has been determined sufficient to support punitive damages in Pennsylvania and Minnesota," Katz concluded. "We expect to submit the issue of punitive damages to the jury here." That means the judge will let the jury decide not only what if any responsibility the church has for the abuse and whether the plaintiff deserves compensatory damages for losses caused by it, but also whether the diocese should face additional punitive damages. O'Neill has yet to say how much money his client will seek. But in 2006, the diocese agreed to settle a similar case involving the priest for a record $965,000. Soon after, current Bishop Salvatore Matano wrote a peer that he had projected a "negative verdict" of up to $5 million. Babel is just one of 19 Vermonters who have filed lawsuits involving Paquette, who now is 79, living in his parents' old home in Westfield, Mass., and refusing to comment. Church lawyers don't dispute Babel's allegations against the priest. But they say the diocese isn't liable because the late Bishop John Marshall was following since-debunked advice of mental health experts, and that the plaintiff's case was too old to prosecute under the state's statutes of limitations. Responding for Babel, O'Neill has said statutes allow people to file lawsuits up to six years after they realize their abuse has caused personal harm. He says for his client, that occurred shortly after the state attorney general went public with a clergy misconduct investigation in 2002. The judge has yet to say anything formally about the statutes of limitations, although he ruled in favor of another plaintiff in a similar case, stating in January that "knowing a priest breached a duty does not, per se, tip off the reasonable person that the diocese has also breached a duty." A jury of eight men and five women (12 members and an alternate) could hear closing statements and start deliberating on a verdict as early as Monday morning. Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.
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