BishopAccountability.org
	1st Suit Accusing Ex-Priest Is Settled By Robert King Indianapolis Star September 3, 2010 http://www.indystar.com/article/20100903/LOCAL/9030339/1st-lawsuit-accusing-ex-priest-is-settled When a man known in court papers as John Doe RG came forward in 2005 with a lawsuit alleging he'd been sexually abused as a boy by his priest, few people in Indianapolis remembered or knew of a former clergyman named Harry Monroe. That soon changed. After John Doe RG's lawsuit, 12 other men came forward with lawsuits also alleging that Monroe had used his position as a priest from 1974 to 1984 to take advantage of them when they were still boys growing up in Catholic parishes in the state. Now, almost five years after filing the lawsuit that started it all, John Doe RG has reached a financial agreement with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis that compensates him for medical treatment associated with his abuse and covers the legal fees associated with his lawsuit. The exact amount of the settlement wasn't disclosed, but archdiocesan attorney Jay Mercer said it was less than the $199,000 the church paid in May to settle another lawsuit associated with Monroe. The settlement, reached Aug. 24 during court-mandated mediation but not disclosed until Thursday, averts a trial that had been scheduled for later this year. The proceeding promised to go where few cases in Indiana have gone before -- allowing jurors to hear testimony about "repressed memories," those from a traumatic event painful enough to cause a victim to lose them for years, even decades. In his lawsuit, John Doe RG said that as an altar boy at St. Andrew Catholic Church in the mid-1970s, he had been sexually abused on multiple occasions. He also said he had lost the memories of that abuse until a 2003 session with his therapist. The Star generally does not identify victims of sexual assault. In January, Superior Court Judge David Dreyer ruled that jurors would be allowed to hear the testimony about the validity of repressed memories and decide for themselves whether the late recovery of the memories should allow RG's lawsuit to go forward decades after the statute of limitation had expired. John Doe RG, now 45, said the uncertainty of how that would play out in court was a factor in his decision to settle. In an interview Thursday, RG said he didn't want the possibility of losing the case to undercut the other cases pending against the archdiocese. His attorney, Pat Noaker, acknowledged that his would have been a "complex" case to put before a jury. Mercer, the attorney representing the archdiocese, said he felt confident the church would have won in court or on appeal. Ultimately, though, settling the case now was less expensive than allowing it to proceed. The archdiocese issued a statement Thursday that said the settlement enables John Doe RG to "avoid the emotional distress and expense of a public trial." The statement also noted that RG's "courage in coming forward with his claim encouraged others to seek the help and support they needed."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.