PENNSYLVANIA
San Francisco Chronicle
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A judge has given an attorney six months to settle claims on behalf of seven former students who allege they were molested by a Franciscan friar who helped as an athletic trainer at a Roman Catholic high school in Johnstown from 1992 to 2001.
The Blair County judge said the deadline should be long enough for Altoona attorney Richard Serbin to determine whether his clients’ claims can be settled without the actual filing of lawsuits.
Serbin is one of several attorneys representing more than 50 former students at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, and schools in Ohio and Michigan, who have said they intend to sue or seek out-of-court settlements for the actions of Brother Stephen Baker.
Most of the plaintiffs are targeting Pennsylvania’s Altoona-Johnstown diocese or school officials at Bishop McCort High School, where Baker taught and assisted with athletic training from 1992 to 2002. The school is about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.
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