ST. JOHN'S (CANADA)
Saltwire Network [Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada]
January 23, 2025
By Tara Bradbury
The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s is appealing a court decision that determined its insurance policy was void because it didn’t disclose reports of sexual abuse
The St. John’s Roman Catholic archdiocese is continuing its fight to have its insurance company cover some of its settlement with clergy abuse survivors, by appealing a recent court decision that found the insurance policy invalid.
The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s (RCECSJ) filed documents with the province’s court of appeal Friday, Jan. 17, asking it to overturn Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Peter Browne’s Dec. 20 decision and find it entitled to indemnity under the Guardian Insurance policy it took out in the 1980s.Article content
Browne ruled after trial that the policy was void due to the RCECSJ’s failure to disclose sexual abuse claims.
The RCECSJ acknowledged it had received information about its priests sexually abusing youth and did not disclose it to child-protection authorities, nor to Guardian when it obtained a policy in 1980 and renewed it yearly for at least five years.
Sexual abuse not ‘not the radar’ at the time, court heard
The RCECSJ argued it had not considered the information as important to disclose on the insurance application.
Evidence from insurance underwriters indicated insurers did not consider sexual abuse material information from religious institutions in the early 1980s, since it was not “on the radar,” and the institutions were considered “generally low-hazard.”
Brokers didn’t ask religious organizations in the early 1980s about allegations of sexual abuse, the court heard, but this practice later changed in response to an increased understanding of the abuse and discussions in the industry about how to address it.
Browne ultimately determined the archdiocese had a duty to disclose the information and Guardian would not likely have issued a policy to the RCECSJ had it been aware of the abuse. The RCECSJ and its legal representatives “intentionally and recklessly withheld knowledge of past and ongoing sexual abuse by its clergy,” he wrote in his decision, saying Guardian is entitled to void the policy without having to return the archdiocese’s premiums on account of fraudulent misrepresentation.Article content
“RCEC did not make a false representation – it made no representation as to its knowledge of the abuse,” the archdiocese argues in its appeal document.
Appeal alleges multiple errors by judge
It alleges the judge made a long list of errors, including failing to give proper weight to some of the evidence from the insurance underwriters, concluding that allegations of sexual abuse would have been an important consideration for an insurer, and finding the RCEC had a legal obligation to disclose the knowledge to an insurer.
A date has not yet been set for the appeal hearing.
$104-million survivor settlement set to increase
The RCECSJ is in the midst of settling with survivors of sexual abuse by Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel Orphanage and other Roman Catholic clergy, for which it has been found vicariously liable. So far, it has raised roughly $44 million of the $104 million settlement, by selling churches, schools and other properties.
The settlement amount is expected to increase with the re-evaluation of nearly 60 survivor claims that had been rejected by the court-appointed adjudicator before a judge ruled last month they should be compensated.
RCECSJ has sued insurance company before
The archdiocese has long been fighting Guardian over the insurance coverage, bringing the issue to court for the first time in 1989, when the insurance company denied liability for a claim against the RCECSJ related to Father James Hickey. The matter was settled out of court with Guardian defending the archdiocese on the claim.
The issue returned to court 16 years ago when Guardian refused coverage related to another claim involving Hickey. The archdiocese won the case at trial but later lost on appeal.