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	Diocese Bankruptcy Judge Oks Victim Trials By Randall Chase CBS 3 August 13 2010 http://cbs3.com/wireapnewsde/Diocese.bankruptcy.judge.2.1858702.html The judge presiding over the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's bankruptcy case ruled Friday that lawsuits against several of it parishes filed by alleged victims of priest sex abuse can go to trial later this year. Judge Christopher Sontchi denied the diocese's request to extend a stay in the bankruptcy case to non-debtor parishes in order to prevent the trials from starting in October. The diocese argued that the trials should be put on hold while mediation aimed at a global resolution of claims from more than 130 alleged abuse victims continues in the bankruptcy case. In what attorneys for alleged abuse victims said was an unprecedented move, Sontchi allowed several alleged victims to testify about the abuse in response to the diocese's motion. In sometimes tearful testimony, the victims said they wanted their day in court, having waited almost a year since the bankruptcy filing automatically put their lawsuits on hold. "Let's just put all the cards on the table and let the judicial system play out," said John Vai, whose lawsuit involving former priest Francis DeLuca was just hours from trial when the diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection in October. The Associated Press does not usually identify victims of sexual assault, but Vai and other alleged victims of DeLuca have spoken publicly about their abuse. Sontchi ruled that the diocese had not shown that it deserved the "extraordinary relief" it sought in extending the automatic halt to litigation against a debtor in bankruptcy to parishes not involved in the bankruptcy. He also said there was a significant risk of irreparable harm to the alleged abuse victims from further delays in their lawsuits. Sontchi declared that lawsuits filed by Vai and six other alleged victims of DeLuca can go to trial starting Oct. 25 while the bankruptcy case proceeds. "Allowing the trials and the pretrial preparations to continue in the DeLuca 7 cases ... will not adversely affect the mediation or the likelihood of the mediation being successful," he said. "... Those cases can now proceed as the presiding judge in each case sees fit." The judge also ruled that an Oct. 18 trial in the case of alleged abuse victim Joseph Curry can be held as scheduled. Curry's attorney testified that his client is so filled with rage and anger that he presents a danger to himself and the community, and that his court date is "the only thing keeping him relatively sane." "It's the only thing he exists for now," attorney Joseph Benson told Sontchi. The judge also allowed scheduling to proceed in state court in a lawsuit filed by Mary Dougherty, who says she was abused by the late Leonard Mackiewicz, one of 20 priests identified by the diocese in 2006 as confirmed child abusers. John Dorsey, an attorney for the diocese, accused attorneys for the abuse victims of pushing for the trials in an effort to gain advantage in upcoming mediation talks. Little progress has been made in five mediation sessions held so far, but two others are scheduled for the end of this month. "This is a hatchet to get some leverage going into the mediation," said Dorsey, who argued that if there's no global resolution, the claims of abuse victims will be bogged down in "piecemeal litigation" for years to come. Diocese attorneys also warned that if the trials were allowed to proceed, the diocese may be forced to file a reorganization plan with little input from its official committee of unsecured creditors committee or its parishes. "Don't threaten us," said James Stang, an attorney for the creditors committee, which consists solely of alleged abuse victims. "If you want to file your plan, go file it." Stang, a California attorney who is a veteran of several diocese bankruptcy cases across the country, said a big problem in mediation in such cases has been putting a value on a diocese's assets. He suggested that jury verdicts in the state trials could help resolve disputes over the Wilmington diocese's assets. Tom Neuberger, an attorney for several alleged abuse victims, said the diocese's bankruptcy filing was a litigation tactic aimed at stopping victims from testifying about their abuse and keeping documents showing how the church protected pedophiles and tried to cover up their crimes from being made public. "The cover-up is over. ... The truth about these crimes will now be told to a jury," he said after Sontchi's ruling. Bob Krebs, a spokesman for the diocese, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
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