MAINE
Bangor Daily News
By Darren Fishell, BDN Staff
Posted July 23, 2015
PORTLAND, Maine — A jury decided Thursday that a Freeport advocate for children sexually abused by clergy was reckless and negligent in publicly accusing former Catholic brother Michael Geilenfeld of molesting children in his care.
The jury awarded Geilenfeld and an affiliated nonprofit, Hearts with Haiti, $14.5 million in damages for harm to his and the organization’s reputation and for direct fundraising losses the jury found were attributable to scandal prompted by Paul Kendrick’s allegations from 2011 through this year.
The jury’s decision included $2.5 million in damages on claims that Kendrick was negligent and reckless in his statements about Hearts with Haiti. The jury awarded Geilenfeld $7 million on similar claims.
Another $5 million was awarded to Hearts with Haiti based on interference with its business, or fundraising losses.
The case was yet another forum where allegations against Geilenfeld — who was imprisoned for 237 days in Haiti during an investigation of those claims — were put on trial. Alleged victims have appealed Geilenfeld’s acquittal on sex abuse claims in Haiti. …
Peter DeTroy, attorney for Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti, said he expects some portion of the damages awarded to be covered by Kendrick’s homeowners insurance policy, though neither he nor Walker could speculate how much that policy may cover.
To reach a verdict, the 10-person jury was required to reach a unanimous vote, which they did after more than five hours of deliberation on the claims brought against Kendrick by Geilenfeld and Hearts of Haiti.
To win, both plaintiffs had to prove it was more likely than not that Kendrick made one or more false claims, that the statements were published to a third party, that the statements were made negligently or with reckless disregard for whether the statements were false and that did monetary or reputational damage to either Hearts with Haiti or Geilenfeld.
At issue was a public awareness campaign launched by Kendrick, 65, against 63-year-old Geilenfeld and the North Carolina-based nonprofit for which he worked in 2011.
Kendrick alleged in multiple emails and online publications that Geilenfeld sexually abused boys he had taken in at an orphanage in Port Au Prince, Haiti, and that the nonprofit had turned a blind eye.
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