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	Judge Won't Step down in Church Suits By Kevin O'Connor Times Argus [Vermont] June 3, 2006 http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060603/NEWS/606030326/1003/EDUCATION05 A judge late Friday rejected a Vermont Catholic Church request that he recuse himself from hearing 19 priest misconduct lawsuits against it. The statewide Diocese of Burlington had asked Chittenden Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph to step down from its cases after he oversaw a record $965,000 settlement in an initial lawsuit this spring. The church claimed Joseph's rulings in the civil case of Michael Gay vs. the Rev. Edward Paquette — most specifically, his lifting of a gag order after the settlement — jeopardized the diocese's ability to receive a fair trial in the future. But the judge won't recuse himself, he said late Friday without elaborating. The church still has one more chance to remove Joseph from its cases. Under state law, its recusal request automatically goes to the state's chief administrative judge, Amy Davenport, who will make a final decision. Church lawyer David Cleary had little reaction to Joseph's decision. "Honestly, it's what we expected," Cleary said. "Stay tuned — more to follow." Cleary has criticized many of Joseph's rulings in the Gay case, which was capped in April by the judge's removal of a gag order after the settlement. That led to a torrent of news reports on the church's admission it knew Paquette had molested boys in two states when it assigned him to parishes in Rutland in 1972, Montpelier in 1974 and Burlington in 1976. The diocese, facing 14 more lawsuits against Paquette, questions how it will find an impartial jury to hear future cases. But lawyer Jerome O'Neill, representing the accusers, says the diocese's recusal request is not only groundless, but also part of a "campaign of intimidation" aimed "to interfere with judicial independence." O'Neill was traveling Friday and couldn't be reached for comment. But in a 14-page court statement released Tuesday, he said the diocese's request was nothing short of "judge shopping." "No court should permit this blatant attempt by the diocese to find a judge more to its liking, or, perhaps more realistically, one it can intimidate by spurious motions into ruling favorably for it," O'Neill wrote. The diocese gave Gay, a 38-year-old South Burlington man, the promise of a $965,000 settlement just hours before a jury was to hear opening arguments in his case the week after Easter. Gay said Paquette "sexually abused and sexually exploited" him from ages 10 to 12 at Burlington's Christ the King Catholic Church. The diocese faces 14 more lawsuits against Paquette and one lawsuit each involving former Vermont priest James Dunn; James McShane, the subject of a $120,000 settlement in 2004; George Paulin, the subject of a $20,000 settlement in 2003; and two cases against Alfred Willis, the subject of a $150,000 settlement in 2004. Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.
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