By Vanessa Fuhrmans and Dionne Searcey
The Wall Street Journal
March 15, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575124023612782254.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth
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| Boarding school of the Domspatzen choir in Regensburg, one site of allegations. |
Germany's expanding church sexual-abuse scandal could lead to criminal prosecutions, but it is unlikely to trigger damages of the magnitude that left parts of the U.S. Catholic Church financially crippled.
Attorneys sorting through more than 100 cases of abuse in Catholic institutions across Germany that have emerged since January say most would-be plaintiffs appear to have little legal recourse. That's because most of the incidents occurred decades ago, placing them beyond Germany's narrow statutes of limitations for civil lawsuits and, in many cases, also for criminal prosecution.
German lawmakers are now debating whether to extend the time period in which alleged victims could sue for financial damages, or whether to pressure the church to compensate regardless. The church can "not hide behind statutes of limitations," German parliamentarian Christian Ahrendt, a member of the Free Democrats, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partners, said in a statement. "Compensation is much more a moral question, not a legal one."
Under German law, child sexual-abuse cases must be criminally prosecuted within 10 years of the alleged victim's 18th birthday. The statute of limitations for pursuing civil damages is three years, giving most victims in such cases until just the age of 21 to file suit.
A number of lawmakers have called for introducing legislation that would extend the time limits for civil suits in these cases to as much as 30 years. German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has said such legislation should be introduced by summer.
Last week, the Archbishop of Bamberg, Germany, Ludwig Schick, called for the statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions to be extended to 30 years. "Most important are the victims," he said. "They are the ones who require justice."
The Catholic church in Germany has said it would assist investigations of abuse, as well as aid victims. German Bishop Stephan Ackermann, who has been assigned to deal with abuse investigations, has pledged to prod any clergy to cooperate and has backed the idea of a roundtable with lawmakers and other officials to discuss better ways to address abuse cases.
The U.S. Catholic church was rocked by abuse scandals nearly a decade ago, and its aftermath was financially devastating. Thousands of claims were filed in the U.S.
The litigation yielded few jury verdicts, but claimants ended up with several settlements that legal experts say totaled more than $1 billion. In 2007, the Los Angeles archdiocese agreed to pay $660 million to 508 alleged victims. At least seven dioceses have filed for bankruptcy as a result of battling the litigation and making the payouts.
Germany's legal tradition is likely to shield church organizations from such an extent of criminal and civil prosecution that, legal experts say. German law doesn't prohibit damage awards similar in size to those in the U.S. But there is little precedent for awards in such cases to exceed more than ˆ50,000 (about $68,000), said Sven Leistikow, a Berlin attorney.
Nonetheless, there could be financial repercussions. Though a small percentage of Germans are regular churchgoers, nearly 30% consider themselves Catholic and many pay a voluntary tax that supplies the German church with the majority of its revenues. These revenues have already fallen in recent years.
Since January, some 160 people in Germany have reported stories of past abuse at the hands of church elders, still a small number compared to similar scandals in the U.S., Ireland and more recently the Netherlands.
Scores of reports, however, have emanated from some of the German church's most elite institutions, including a boarding school tied to the renowned Domspatzen choir in Regensburg, which Pope Benedict's brother, Georg Ratzinger, directed for 30 years. Msgr. Ratzinger isn't named in the allegations, and he has said he was unaware of the alleged sexual abuse..
In another allegation, which surfaced late last week, a priest who was known to the church as a sex abuser was returned to pastoral work in 1980 at a German archdiocese under Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican has said the Pope was unaware of the incident. The archdiocese's then-administrative deputy has taken responsibility.
The U.S. lawsuits were important in opening the issue for discussions, said Timothy Lytton, a law professor at Albany Law School in New York. The suits, he said, were instrumental in getting elected law-enforcement officials and lawmakers to act, as many had been otherwise reluctant to attack an institution that many constituents held in high regard.
"Most of what we know about the misconduct of bishops and lack of supervision is all from discovery in lawsuits," said Mr. Lytton, author of "Holding Bishops Accountable: How Lawsuits Helped the Catholic Church Confront Clergy Sexual Abuse."
Write to Vanessa Fuhrmans at vanessa.fuhrmans@wsj.com and Dionne Searcey atdionne.searcey@wsj.com
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