Diocese Ordered to Pay Sex Abuse Victim, Brian Joyce, WCAX, October 9, 2009

Diocese Ordered to Pay Sex Abuse Victim

By Brian Joyce
WCAX
October 9, 2009

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11288253

Rev. Edward Paquette

Jurors have reached a verdict in the latest priest sex abuse case.

The Vermont Catholic Diocese will pay $2.2 million dollars in damages to a former altar boy who is now 44-years-old.

Jurors did not award punitive damages.

The former altar boy claims he was sexually abused by Father Edward Paquette in the 1970s. The plaintiff was seeking $8 million dollars claiming church officials knew Paquette was a sexual predator.

Bishop Salvatore Matano

Friday's verdict was the sixth sex abuse case against the Diocese in less than two years. The Diocese has lost five of those trials.

"I know some might think we have not been serious enough in what we have offered," said Bishop Salvatore Matano speaking the financial strain on the Vt. Catholic Diocese. "Well, I believe we have been very serious, in our efforts to bring these to a resolution."

Jerry O'Neill

"The usual all talk and no action. They talk about how they want to resolve these but they want to pay values that bear no resemblance to what a Vermont jury will do," said Jerry O'Neill, the lawyer for Plaintiff. "They want to pay numbers that account for the fact that our clients need to get over it and move on. And they give us all this about how they can't afford it. We aren't willing to tell our clients the diocese can't afford it."

Both the diocese and the victim are expected to appeal the decision. 23 more abuse lawsuits, most of them filed by Paquette victims, are waiting trial.