Judge Takes Sex Trafficking off Lawsuit against Fairfield U.

By Michael P. Mayko
CT Post
May 3, 2016

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Judge-dismisses-sex-trafficking-claim-against-7389786.php

A file photo of Douglas Perlitz.

For Fairfield University and its former chaplain, a federal judge’s ruling dismissing a civil sex-trafficking charge in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit arising out of the abuse of young Haitian street boys represents a victory.

For Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston lawyer for the 50 plaintiffs, the defeat is a small one in a bigger lawsuit.

“The dismissal of the sex-trafficking count does not significantly harm the plaintiffs’ claim,” said Garabedian, whose efforts in exposing sexual abuse of children by priests and the resulting coverup by the Boston Diocese was featured in “Spotlight” — this year’s Oscar winning best picture. “The plaintiffs still have the federal sex-tourism, negligent-hiring, retention and supervision and breach-of-fidicuriary-duties claims pending.”

Garabedian said the 50 pending cases have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford.

“All of the parties are working diligently in completing their discovery, which should happen in the next 60 to 90 days,” Garabedian said.

Others say the case could be tried next year.

Stanley A. Twardy Jr., whose Day Pitney lawfirm represents Fairfield University, declined comment.

Meanwhile David Clohessy, director of SNAP which is a network of people abused by priests, said he was disappointed by the ruling but “thankful some charges remain.”

“We as a society have to punish those who also conceal, not just those who commit these horrible acts,” said Clohessy. “We believe its wrong to exploit legal techniques to evade justice and obscure the truth.”

The cases arise out of a three-phase program to feed, clothe, shelter and education street boys in Haiti. The program was designed by Douglas Perlitz, a 1992 Fairfield University graduate who the school chose as its 2002 commencement speaker.

Seven years later, Perlitz was arrested on charges of sexually abusing dozens of boys he was supposed to be helping. A joint investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Bureau, Haitian National Police and the United Nations led to his arrest, conviction and incarceration. He is due to be released in 2026 from his 19-year, 7-month federal prison sentence.

In 2013, Garabedian negotiated a $12 million settlement, providing about $500,000 to each of the first 24 defendants on whose behalf he brought suits.

Another 50 students in Perlitz’s Project Pierre Toussaint program have since brought suit seeking millions from him, Fairfield University; the Rev. Paul Carrier — who mentored and raised money for Perlitz’s program — and other Roman Catholic charities and individuals.

In a nine-page ruling, Chatigny dismissed the sex-trafficking charge after determining that the law, as it stood until December 2008, required the crime to be committed in the U.S., and did not extend internationally. He found it could not applied retroactively to Perlitz’s actions, which ended before the law’s 2008 revision.

Garabedian alleges in the lawsuit that the defendants — such as Fairfield University, the Haiti Fund and the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta — raised money for Perlitz’s program but failed to properly supervise or remove him after complaints about the sexual activities emerged.

Carrier, who has been suspended by his Jesuit order, was an officer in the Haiti Fund, which as the fundraising arm of Project Pierre Toussaint raised over $2 million for it. He also regularly traveled to Haiti to meet with Perlitz.

Timothy O’Neill, Carrier’s lawyer, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Other defendants in these cases include: the Society of Jesus of New England, Carrier’s Jesuit order; and Hope Carter, a New Canaan philanthropist, Malta member and member of the board of directors of the Haiti Fund.