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	Archdiocese Sex Abuse Cases Head for Court By William McCall The Associated Press, carried in Houston Chronicle April 17, 2006 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3800303.html PORTLAND, Ore. — A judge cleared the way Monday for nearly 130 sex abuse claims to go to trial, almost two years after the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland filed for bankruptcy. The archdiocese and the alleged victims have been unable to agree on terms of a settlement, and Monday was the deadline for deciding whether to go to court. Nearly 40 cases are headed to state court, and 88 alleged victims chose to have their cases heard in federal court, said Erin Olson, attorney for several accusers. The archdiocese became the nation's first Catholic diocese to declare bankruptcy in July 2004. Its reorganization plan, which must include an estimate of how much it will pay for the claims, is subject to approval by creditors _ the alleged victims _ and the court. "We just want to proceed and get this done with as much accuracy as possible," archdiocese attorney Susan Ford said. The archdiocese said in court papers last year that it had hoped to settle all the claims for about $42 million. Nearly all the cases referred to state court resulted from alleged abuse by prison chaplains at the MacLaren School for Boys, the state facility for juvenile offenders, Olson said. Federal Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris said she hopes that trials will help speed a settlement. The case that triggered the bankruptcy has already been scheduled to be heard in October in federal court. The $135 million lawsuit by a man identified only as "C.B." claims he was molested in the early 1980s in Seaside by the Rev. Maurice Grammond, who has been accused by a number of other victims. Attorneys had been prepared to argue that archdiocese officials knew Grammond was sexually abusing children for more than 20 years but simply moved him from parish to parish in response. Church officials have denied the claim, and lawyers for the archdiocese have called the evidence unreliable.
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