BishopAccountability.org
	L.A. Judge Orders Priest Files Released to Mediator Desert Sun September 19, 2008 http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080919/NEWS01/80919005/1263/update A Los Angeles judge has ordered that the personnel files of Catholic priests and other offenders named in the San Diego diocese’s sexual abuse settlement be turned over to a court-appointed referee next month. Judge Emile Elias Thursday gave a San Diego attorney hoping to block the release until Oct. 14 to seek an appeal, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. San Diego lawyer Robert Jassoy, who represents seven alleged offenders, requested the delay to give him time to ask the state appeals court to rule on the legality of releasing the files, according to the newspaper. Last September, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed to pay $198 million to settle claims with 144 men and women who said they were sexually abused by clergy and other church workers when they minors. The diocese agreed to make the files public as part of the settlement. Attorneys for the victims objected to the postponement, according to the Union-Tribune. More than $15 million of the settlement was borne by the San Bernardino Diocese, which includes Riverside County. In 1978, the San Bernardino Diocese separated from the San Diego Diocese. San Bernardino's settlement includes 11 cases involving eight priests and 11 suspected victims. The settlement was paid through insurance, Diocesan reserve funds, assets and financing. The settlement averaged out to about $1.4 million per claimant. The settlement capped more than four years of negotiations in state and federal courts and came six months after the San Diego Diocese filed for bankruptcy protection hoping to shield church assets. With nearly 1 million Catholics, the San Diego diocese is by far the largest and wealthiest of the five U.S. dioceses to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the shadow of sexual abuse civil claims.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.