By Sean O'Sullivan
News Journal
December 7, 2010
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101207/NEWS01/12070328/Plaintiff-calls-for-St-Elizabeth-penalty
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| Plaintiff John Vai (right) leaves courthouse in Dover last week with one of his attorneys, Stephen Neuberger, after jury ruled in his favor. |
OVER -- An attorney for plaintiff John Vai told a jury set to decide on punitive damages in Vai's priest sex abuse lawsuit to "send a message of deterrence ... to make sure this never happens again" with its ruling.
Attorney Stephen J. Neuberger told the Kent County Superior Court panel of 12 on Monday that this phase of the case "is no longer just about John Vai" but is also about other children who were abused by now-defrocked priest Francis DeLuca -- and the people in the Roman Catholic parish of St. Elizabeth who covered up for DeLuca and hid his decades of sexual abuse.
Parish attorney Colleen Shields decried the "conspiracy of secrecy and silence" that surrounded DeLuca's crimes and allowed him to quietly retire to Syracuse, N.Y., in 1993. "That wasn't right," she said.
She added that no message needed to be sent because measures already have been taken to protect children. And while it "took too long," she said the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington ended the conspiracy of silence in 2006 when it released a list of names of priests -- including DeLuca -- who had credible allegations of abuse lodged against them.
"The message was clear, so you don't need to punish St. Elizabeth Parish to send a message of deterrence," she said, adding also that the financial future of the parish is "bleak."
Last week, the jury of 12 entered a $30 million liability judgment against DeLuca and also found that the parish acted with "gross negligence" in failing to monitor Deluca and protect Vai. In a separate entry on the verdict form, the jury ordered the parish to pay $3 million of the $30 million in compensatory damages awarded to Vai.
Any decision on punitive damages could substantially add to the amount both DeLuca and St. Elizabeth will owe Vai for the years of abuse he suffered at the hands of DeLuca as a teenager in the late 1960s. Or the jury may decide last week's $30 million award is punishment enough, according to legal observers.
Neuberger told the jurors on Monday that in the coming two days they will hear evidence that the actions of officials at St. Elizabeth Parish went beyond gross negligence to reckless behavior, including the pastor's inviting DeLuca back to Wilmington for several weeklong visits at the parish rectory after DeLuca had been "retired" from the priesthood because of abuse allegations in 1993.
And that same pastor, the Rev. Charles Dillingham, who left St. Elizabeth's in 2009, failed to warn parishioners with young children who remained close to DeLuca and did not warn DeLuca's own family, who were allowing young great-nephews to stay overnight with DeLuca in Syracuse, despite Dillingham's knowledge of at least one of the allegations.
DeLuca was defrocked after he was convicted in 2007 of molesting a great-nephew in Syracuse.
The mother of a DeLuca victim, who considered DeLuca so close that he was given his own bedroom at the family's beach house, testified that she felt betrayed not only by DeLuca, but by Dillingham for failing to warn her.
In his testimony, Dillingham admitted he knew that DeLuca was removed from his priestly duties in 1993 because of an allegation of abuse that had been investigated by the diocese, and that such an action was unusual.
But, Dillingham said, he remained close to DeLuca and continued to visit DeLuca and his family in New York and to allow DeLuca to visit him and stay at the St. Elizabeth rectory.
At the time, Dillingham said, he knew only of the one allegation, and it was more than 30 years old.
So, Dillingham testified, he reached out to DeLuca as a friend. "I thought he needed some help ... needed a friend, needed me ... and some form of forgiveness," Dillingham said.
Earlier Monday, Monsignor Clement P. Lemon, who investigated DeLuca in 1993, said he would have hoped that Dillingham would have warned DeLuca's family if he learned young relatives were staying with DeLuca overnight.
The stays at St. Elizabeth's rectory stopped around 2000 after then-Wilmington Bishop Michael Saltarelli heard of them and voiced his displeasure to Dillingham. But even as late as 2006, Dillingham said, he had a secretary at St. Elizabeth's make travel and hotel arrangements for DeLuca when DeLuca had to return to Delaware to give a deposition used in Vai's case.
DeLuca, in depositions, admitted molesting 13 boys over the years. Attorneys for plaintiffs claim there were at least 30 victims.
Dillingham said that is not the Frank DeLuca he knew and trusted. He called DeLuca "my mentor," and added "that Frank DeLuca is not someone I needed to warn anyone about."
Dillingham said he never suspected his friend or saw any inappropriate behavior with boys, but knowing what he knows now he feels "terrible."
"I made a misjudgment about Frank Deluca. ... I wish I had more knowledge. I did what I thought was best at the time. I wish I had it to do over again, but I don't," he told the jury.
The panel also heard from two victims who were molested by DeLuca at St. John the Beloved Parish, DeLuca's posting before he was moved to St. Elizabeth Parish in 1966.
Testimony before the jury and Superior Court President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. continues today.
Contact Sean O'Sullivan at 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com.
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