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	Springfield Diocese, Insurers Reach $8.5 Million Settlement in Abuse Cases By Stephanie Barry The Republican July 2, 2008 http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/springfield_diocese_insurers_r.html?category=Crime+category=Springfield SPRINGFIELD - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield this morning announced it has reached an $8.5 million settlement with insurance carriers previously resistant to covering clergy abuse claims filed by 61 people. A lawsuit filed two years ago in Hampden Superior Court pitted the diocese against three insurance carriers. The diocese petitioned the insurance companies to cover settlements with alleged victims, while the carriers have been pushing the diocese to turn over records that may suggest the diocese negligently ignored the signs of abuse. The diocese settled a previous crop of abuse claims for $7.7 million. Officials there have said they want the insurance companies to cover that payoff as well. Diocesan spokesman Mark E. Dupont said $5 million will go to abuse victims, while the remaining $3.5 million will be allocated elsewhere. The details of that will be explained at a press conference this afternoon, Dupont said. An arbitration will follow the settlement agreement. The litigation served to expose internal diocesan records and law enforcement files on clergy abuse investigations - most notably the unsolved murder of 14-year-old altar boy Daniel Croteau in the early 1970s. The only suspect in that murder was the now-defrocked Richard R. Lavigne, the Croteaus' onetime parish priest and a serial abuser. Lawyers for Lavigne have vehemently denied his involvement. Lavigne was the abuser in many of the previous claims, and the current wave. Contact: sbarry@repub.com
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