By Sean O'Sullivan
News Journal
December 2, 2010
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101202/NEWS01/12020367/Jury-faults-parish-in-sex-abuse
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| Plaintiff John M. Vai (right) leaves the courthouse Wednesday with attorneys Raeann Warner and Stephen Neuberger. |
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| John M. Vai (right) was awarded $3 million in compensatory damages from the parish of St. Elizabeth. |
DOVER -- In a ruling that likely will have far-reaching implications for about 150 priest sex abuse cases pending or tied up in bankruptcy court, a jury found that St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic parish was grossly negligent in its failure to properly supervise then-priest Francis DeLuca and is responsible for at least $3 million of $30 million in damages awarded to John M. Vai, who repeatedly was molested as a teenager in the 1960s.
The parish also may end up owing Vai more after the Kent County Superior Court jury rules on potential punitive damages.
Superior Court President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. ordered the panel of seven men and five women to return to court next week to hear two more days of testimony before considering possible punitive awards.
Because the jury isn't finished, parish attorney Colleen Shields and Vai attorneys Tom Neuberger and Tom Crumplar declined to comment. St. Elizabeth's pastor, the Rev. Norman Carroll, also declined to comment on the advice of attorneys.
On the stand, Vai, 58, told a jury that his case was not about the money but about getting the truth out and getting compensation for the loss of his childhood.
Vai said Wednesday he was pleased with the outcome and that the jury believed his account.
"Personally, I feel some of the weight is relieved. Some of the pressure is off me," he said, adding that it is not over and there are more victims and more facts that need to come out.
"I thank the jury for doing justice for me and for all survivors. ... The legal system in Delaware works and can render justice to all survivors of sexual abuse," he said.
Wilmington Bishop W. Francis Malooly issued a brief statement in which he again apologized on behalf of the diocese to Vai and all other victims of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. He also said he was "disappointed that the jury found the people of St. Elizabeth liable for the acts of Francis DeLuca" and said it is "unfortunate" that they will have to pay for DeLuca's "criminal and sinful acts" from more than 40 years ago.
Malooly said in the statement he was reaffirming his "deep commitment to creating and sustaining a safe environment within the Church for our children and youth."
Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said this is one of the biggest compensatory damage awards in a priest sex abuse case that she could recall.
"This is extremely large," she said, even if the bulk of the monetary award is symbolic because there is likely no way that DeLuca -- who had to give up his legal representation purportedly because he has no money -- will be able to pay the full amount. "I think the jury is making a statement ... telling the world what they think of the behavior of the parish and the priest," she said.
DeLuca admitted molesting Vai in a sworn deposition and did not attend the trial or offer any defense. DeLuca was convicted of sexually abusing a child in New York state, and according to attorneys, has admitted under oath to molesting others when they were boys. His former attorney Stephen Casarino said DeLuca had no comment on the jury's decision.
On Wednesday, Vai also called on Pope Benedict XVI and Bishop Malooly to remove Monsignor Thomas Cini from his position as the second-highest authority in the Wilmington Diocese and send him to a monastery "to repent for his sins against dozens of survivors of DeLuca who he did not protect."
During the trial that began on Oct. 26, Vai and others accused Cini -- who had been a parish priest at St. Elizabeth in the late 1960s and lived in a room next to DeLuca -- of turning a blind eye to evidence of DeLuca's abuse of teenage boys.
Wilmington Diocese spokesman Bob Krebs said the diocese stands by Cini and Cini's sworn testimony that he never saw any boys in the priests' quarters at St. Elizabeth and never suspected DeLuca was a pedophile.
At trial, Vai's attorneys charged that officials at St. Elizabeth had been put on notice about pedophile priests in 1966 because just months before DeLuca was assigned to the parish, a different priest, Alfred Lind, had been removed due to allegations that he was sexually abusing teenage boys.
DeLuca was moved to St. Elizabeth after having been removed from a previous posting in the diocese where he also had been accused of molesting children.
A "John Doe" victim also testified to seeing the then-pastor of St. Elizabeth berating DeLuca for driving around with teenage boys in his sports car and allowing one behind the wheel. "Doe" also testified he was confronted at the time by Cini, who warned him to stay away from DeLuca, an event Cini denies ever took place.
First in state court
As for the broader implications, the multimillion-dollar jury award marks the first significant finding of liability against an arm of the Roman Catholic Church in a Delaware state court and sets a new, high standard for potential jury awards in other priest abuse cases in the state, experts said.
Wilmington lawyer Edmund "Dan" Lyons, who is not associated with the case, said the punitive damages could end up being a multiple of the compensatory damages -- perhaps two or three times the $3 million or more -- but he said the jury also may decide that the compensatory award is punishment enough for St. Elizabeth.
"You could put that parish out of business," he said.
In a previous priest abuse case that went to trial, brought by James Sheehan against the religious order that operates Salesianum School, a jury found the actions of school officials were not the "proximate cause" of injuries suffered by Sheehan.
Widener Law professor Juliet Moringiello had a one-word reaction to Wednesday's jury ruling: "Wow."
Moringiello, who specializes in bankruptcy law, said now that all sides see the potential exposure the diocese and its individual parishes could face at trial, the Vai ruling may restart stalled settlement talks between the diocese and attorneys representing victims in the remaining lawsuits to resolve all cases outside of bankruptcy court.
The Diocese of Wilmington filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2009 and was not a party to the Vai suit.
In his statement Wednesday, Malooly seemed to signal a desire to return to mediation talks, noting that "the diocese will continue to seek a just and equitable settlement with Mr. Vai and all survivors of sexual abuse through the mediation process which we have pursued in good faith since July."
After several intense weeks of negotiations, the talks hit an impasse in late summer when all sides reported back to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi that no resolution had been reached and no further meetings with a court-appointed mediator had been scheduled.
No longer hypothetical
At the very least, Moringiello said, Wednesday's ruling will give attorneys for the sexual abuse survivors a far stronger hand in arguing to the judge that the amount the diocese has set aside in its bankruptcy plan to pay outstanding legal claims needs to be increased.
"We have gone from a hypothetical to an actual judgment," she said.
On Monday, all parties in the Diocese of Wilmington bankruptcy case are expected to be in court before Sontchi for a previously scheduled hearing at which time the result of the Vai case is almost certain to come up.
In addition to Vai's case, Sontchi had cleared nine other lawsuits that name a parish as a defendant to go forward to trial, including one involving plaintiff Joseph Curry which is set to begin jury selection Monday in New Castle County Superior Court.
Vai brought his case against St. Elizabeth under the Delaware Child Victims Act of 2007, but the way the verdict form was worded, the result in the Vai case is likely to remain even if the Delaware Child Victims Act is overturned.
The jury found evidence, under a "repressed memory" theory, that Vai only became aware of much of the sexual abuse he suffered as a child in 2007 after reading an article in The News Journal about a different priest sex abuse case brought against DeLuca, meaning his case fell within the standard statute of limitations for such civil claims.
The Delaware Supreme Court is set to take up a case later this month that alleges the Delaware Child Victims Act, which suspended the statute of limitations for claims of childhood sexual abuse for two years to allow civil lawsuits, is unconstitutional.
Contact Sean O'Sullivan at 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com.
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