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	Five $3-million Lawsuits Filed against Priest, Roman Catholic Diocese By Carol Mulligan The Sudbury Star January 18, 2010 http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2266282 Former auxiliary bishop named in two of them Five separate lawsuits for $3 million each, the maximum under the law, have been filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice against a Roman Catholic priest convicted of 11 of 16 sexual assault charges in criminal court. Bernard Cloutier, 68, was sentenced last year to five years in prison for his crimes, but is appealing that decision. The five lawsuits were also filed against the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. Two of the lawsuits name the auxiliary bishop of the time, Gerard S.E. Dionne, as well. London-based lawyer Rob Talach of Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers announced the commencement of legal proceedings by five of Cloutier's former altar boys between 1971 and 1983, while Cloutier was serving as a priest at several parishes in the diocese. Attention was on Cloutier in the criminal proceedings, Talach told reporters at the Radisson Hotel on Monday morning. The civil suits "are intended to broaden the scope of inquiry." Talach and his law firm represent several other men from the northeast in civil suits against the diocese for alleged, historic cases of sexual abuse by a number of priests who served parishes in Sudbury, North Bay, Espanola and other communities. In the case of two of the five men in the newest lawsuits, there is essentially a smoking gun that the diocese covered up the abuse at the time, charged the lawyer. "This is one of those rare situations where actual evidence of institutional cover-up and interference with secular authorities exists," said Talach. In criminal court there was testimony that Dionne, as a representative of the diocese, interrupted and interfered in a police interview of two of Cloutier's victims. That interference could be described by some an obstruction of justice, said Talach. Read more about the story in Tuesday's Sudbury Star. Two of the victims filing the lawsuit are urging other people who may have been sexually abused by Cloutier to contact them at maleabuse@hotmail.com. Contact: cmulligan@thesudburystar.com
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