By Patrick Johnson
The Republican
May 19, 2010
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/peter_caffrey_to_file_suit_in.html
A former Franklin County resident is expected to file a civil complaint Wednesday seeking unspecified damages against two former bishops for the Diocese of Springfield, charging that they each failed to prevent disgraced priest Richard Lavigne from molesting him as a child.
Peter Caffrey and his lawyer, John J. Stobierski of Greenfield, intend to file a civil complaint at the Franklin County Courthouse on Wednesday. The complaint will name retired bishops Joseph F. Maguire and Thomas L Dupre, charging that each was a direct supervisor for Lavigne in the 1980s and '90s and each did nothing to stop him from preying on Caffrey.
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| Defrocked priest Richard Lavigne from a 2008 police photo |
Lavigne was convicted of two child molestation charges in 1992. Several years later the diocese settled suits with 17 alleged sexual abuse victims for $1.4 million. He was defrocked as a priest in 2004. Lavigne is the only publicly identified suspect in the unsolved 1972 murder of Springfield altar boy Daniel Croteau. He was never charged.
Maguire served as bishop of Springfield from the late 1970s until 1992. He removed Lavigne from parish duties in 1991 when Lavigne was arrested for child rape.
Dupre served as bishop for two years, resigning abruptly in 2004 when The Republican began investigating allegations that he had also molested children. Stobierski said Caffrey, now a resident of Michigan where he works as a mechanical engineer for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was molested as a child by Lavigne in the towns of Ashfield and Williamstown.
He said Caffrey is coming forward now because after years of repressing the memories from back then, he decided to confront them.
Stobierski said the complaint names the two bishops individually, not Lavigne and not the Diocese of Springfield.
He said Lavigne, since he has been removed from the priesthood is basically indigent, and the diocese is protected by a charitable immunity cap, which sets legal limits on damages that a charitable organization can be made to pay out.
Stobierski said the complaint, by singling out the two bishops and not the diocese, represents a change of tactics. Bishops Maguire and Dupre were Lavigne's supervisors and as such were responsible for overseeing him, he said.
Diocese of Springfield spokesman Mark E. Dupont said Tuesday night the diocese was waiting to see the exact charges before responding.
He said if the suit is targeting Bishops Maguire and Dupre for their actions during their respective tenures as head of the diocese, the diocese will provide legal counsel, he said.
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