Jurisdiction of church cases concerns magistrate judge

By Krystal Paco
KUAM
April 24, 2017

http://www.kuam.com/story/35222564/2017/04/Monday/jurisdiction-of-church-cases-concerns-magistrate-judge

Nearly half of the over 40 clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in the District Court of Guam could be booted back to the local courts. And the federal court is raising concerns over jurisdiction.

Plaintiff Leo Tudela lives in Hawaii. Former priest and named defendant Father Louis Brouillard lives in Minnesota. This could be an issue for the District Court of Guam who may not have jurisdiction over many of the cases of clergy sex abuse. In court on Monday, Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan expressed his concern over diversity jurisdiction - whether the court can entertain controversies between citizens of different states.

"The judge wants us to file our position as to why if there is jurisdiction on each of the cases. All right. So of course, we've got three weeks to do that. And we will be filing that of course. I believe that some of the cases of course I don't think we'll be able to show jurisdiction and that's all right," he said.

Attorney David Lujan represents all of the plaintiffs who've filed suit in the federal court. He suspects jurisdiction issues could affect nearly half of the over forty cases he's filed to date. "In those cases, we'll simply stay and file in Superior Court of Guam. Simple as that," he said.

Appearing on Monday on behalf of the Archdiocese of Agana was attorney John Terlaje as well as California-based co-counsel Paul Gespari, Daniel Zamora, Britt Evangelist, and Mary McNamara who were present via teleconference. Also showing face, but not making an official appearance was attorney Patrick Civille, who confirmed with media that he has been retained as legal counsel for the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council for cases involving Brouillard who was a former troop leader.

"We haven't officially entered the case yet. I've just been retained. I haven't reviewed the evidence. I know the Boy Scouts are interested in shortcutting some of the procedural problems and today I discussed with plaintiffs' counsel that we're not going to make them jump through any particular hoops 0106 in terms of serving the Boy Scouts," he said.

Today's hearing was for six Brouillard lawsuits. Next week, hearings will be held for lawsuits against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

The court meanwhile, will hold defense's motions to dismiss as well as their motion for consolidation in abeyance.