More Lawsuits Filed against Church, TheDenverChannel.com, May 31, 2006

More Lawsuits Filed against Church

TheDenverChannel.com
May 31, 2006

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9302121/detail.html

At least four more lawsuits will be filed against the archdiocese of Denver by people who claim they were sexually abused by priests. That brings the total number of lawsuits to 34. While there is talk about an out-of-court settlement, plans are moving forward for a trial.

All cases involve two priests, one of whom is dead. The other is still alive and lives in the Denver area.

The alleged victims say they want answers to their questions.

"The Church has known all along they had certain problem priests and they systematically moved them around," said alleged victim, Roger Colburn.

Thirty-five years after Colburn says he was sexually assaulted by a trusted family priest, his case remain in legal limbo. He says his life is still upside down.

"Any victim of abuse can tell you that it does affect every area of your life," said Colburn.

Last week the Archdiocese of Denver offered a mediation process that would offer what the church calls a substantial amount of money to the alleged victims of two priests. However, the attorneys of the alleged victims say the proposal is not acceptable.

"Our clients don't trust them. They don't have a reason to trust them," the plaintiff's attorney, Jeff Anderson said. "Our clients have been betrayed by them."

While the Church says it would prefer mediation, attorneys met in court Wednesday to work out the logistics of going to trial.

"Mediation is a no lose proposition," defense attorney Charles Goldberg said. "In court we are hired to defend the Archdiocese of Denver and we will do that."

Many of the alleged victims want to go to trial because they want to force the Church to tell everything it knows about the history of the two priests. Because the cases are very old, the Church will ask them to be dismissed.