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	Jury Considered Punitive Damages for Priest Abuse By Sam Hemingway Burlington Free Press October 13, 2009 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091013/NEWS02/910130307/Jury-considered-punitive-damages-for-priest-abuse The foreman for the Burlington jury that awarded $2.2 million in compensatory damages last week to a former altar boy molested years ago by a Catholic priest said the panel almost issued a verdict that included punitive damages -- a financial award meant to punish a person or group and discourage future misconduct. "We spent three quarters of our time on whether to have punitive damages," said Britt Cummings, 57, of Huntington. "We took a number of votes on it, and it was about three to one for punitives, although it did vary over time." The jury spent 15 hours in deliberations during three days before coming up with its verdict Friday afternoon. Cummings said jurors could not agree unanimously on punitive damages because some "found it difficult to believe all the people involved knew there was a great risk" of abuse by the priest, the Rev. Edward Paquette. Once jury members realized they could not agree on punitive damages, jurors returned to the matter of compensatory damages -- a sum meant to compensate someone for injuries suffered. Cummings said the $2.2 million figure the panel came up with was a reflection of the views jurors expressed during the debate of a punitive award. "I think in some people's mind, yes," Cummings said when asked if the compensatory-damage figure went up because of the failure to agree on punitive damages. The compensatory-damage figure the jury came up with was much larger than the compensatory amounts in two 2008 Paquette cases that resulted in verdicts of $3.6 million and $8.75 million. In those cases, the compensatory damages were $192,000 and $950,000, respectively, with the rest in punitive damages. Both those cases are on appeal before the Vermont Supreme Court. The jury was the fourth to witness a trial on lawsuits brought against the state's Roman Catholic diocese by former altar boys who said they were molested by Paquette in the 1970s at Christ the King Church in Burlington. The former altar boys claim the diocese was to blame because it hired Paquette knowing he had molested boys in three states, including Vermont, before being assigned to the Burlington church. The diocese contends its leaders at the time hired Paquette on the advice of church doctors and psychologists who had treated Paquette for his "homosexual" symptoms and had pronounced him cured. Cummings said no one on the most recent jury believed the diocese should avoid paying some money in damages for the harm done to the altar boy. "There were a lot of numbers all over the place," Cummings said. "Some said $6 million. The ones on the lower end were around $1.5 million." Cummings said the jury had little difficulty agreeing the lawsuit filed by the former altar boy met the rules of the statute of limitations, which required him to bring a case within a certain time period after realizing the extent of the harm he suffered. Diocese attorneys had argued the former altar boy waited too long, meaning the case should have been dismissed. Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or e-mail at shemingway@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com. To have Free Press headlines delivered free to your e-mail, sign up at www.burlingtonfreepress.com/newsletters.
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