Kansas City-st. Joseph Diocese Settles 2 Lawsuits

NECN
October 22, 2012

http://www.necn.com/10/22/12/Kansas-City-Diocese-settles-2-civil-laws/landing_nation.html?&apID=8633d0da746e45bb885709d908ac3d47

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has settled lawsuits brought by a former worker who claimed sexual harassment and a former contractor who claimed the diocese retaliated against her by making it impossible to do her job, attorneys for the plaintiffs and diocese said.

Attorneys for plaintiffs and the diocese declined to discuss details of the settlements, The Kansas City Star reported Monday ( ).

"Both cases have been resolved to the parties' mutual satisfaction," said Rebecca Randles, the Kansas City lawyer whose firm represents the plaintiffs.

Diocesan spokesman Jack Smith said: "Both of these cases have been resolved to the satisfaction of all of the parties."

The diocese denied the allegations after each lawsuit was filed.

In one, Margaret Mata, a former independent contractor, alleged that the diocese and Bishop Robert Finn retaliated against her for advocating on behalf of victims of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who pleaded guilty last month to federal charges of producing and attempting to produce child pornography. She also said she pushed the diocese to change its policies to prevent further child sexual abuse.

Mata said the diocese made it impossible for her to do her job by disabling her email, taking away her laptop and confiscating her business cards. She eventually resigned and then sued in October 2011, claiming retaliation, wrongful dismissal and invasion of privacy.

After the lawsuit was filed, the diocese said in a statement that it "categorically denies it ever prevented Mata from performing any work that was within the scope of her agreement as a contract worker."

The second lawsuit was filed by Larry Probst, a former worker at the diocesan archives. He alleged he was dismissed after complaining about sexually offensive language, sexual advances and pornography on the computers at work.

In a lawsuit filed in January in U.S. District Court, Probst also alleged a co-worker left sexual email messages on the diocesan archives computer and that the messages were "obvious to anyone who entered the archives."

The diocese said at the time that Probst's part-time position was eliminated at the end of the diocesan fiscal year "solely for budgetary reasons."