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	N.L. Diocese Files Suit against Insurance Companies for Sex-Abuse Settlement By Tara Brautigam Canadian Press June 14, 2006 http://www.canadaeast.com/cp/atlantic/article2.php?articleID=3655 ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - A Roman Catholic diocese in Newfoundland is suing six insurance companies, alleging they are fully responsible for a $13-million compensation package awarded to victims of a sexually abusive priest. "The victims deserve compensation," says Rev. Jim Robertson of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. George's Diocese. "But we feel that the insurance companies, who are supposed to be carrying insurance for us, should also have to carry some of that financial obligation." The corporation, which filed the statement of claim last week, is seeking indemnity from the insurers it had during the time of Kevin Bennett's horrific crimes. "We want the court to say the insurers who are insuring us are the ones who (owe) the entirety of the costs of that liability," Robertson said Tuesday from his Corner Brook home in western Newfoundland. "It would be the same as you having a house fire. The insurance company might come back to you and say, 'Well, because of this, that or the other thing, we're not responsible, we're not liable.' " For 15 years, legal battles were waged to determine who was liable for the years of abuse inflicted by Bennett, a former priest with the diocese. Unlike many other denominations, which are incorporated nationally, the Catholic Church in Canada is legally incorporated only at the diocese level. In March 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Bennett's victims could sue the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. George's Diocese. The victims accepted a proposed $13-million settlement in May 2005. The diocese, the first in Canada to seek bankruptcy protection as a result of sex-abuse claims, has tried to negotiate with the insurance companies on compensating victims since the settlement was made, but to no avail, Robertson said. "We decided rather than us continuing to try to negotiate with the insurance companies, that we will take it to the court and let the court decide where the liability lies," Robertson said, warning that any payments after a July 22 scheduled instalment could be in jeopardy. "We're confident we can make this next payment," he said. "But after that, we don't know what ability we'll have to make payments." To date, the diocese has paid about $5 million toward the settlement. Another $3.8-million instalment is due July 22. The statement of claim also seeks defence costs and indemnity from any poible further damage awards. Bennett was convicted in May 1990 of hundreds of sexual aaults dating back to 1961. He was sentenced to four years in prison after the court heard how he had plied altar boys with liquor and money for nearly three decades. The suit comes as the diocese is close to finalizing the purchase of more than 100 of its churches, chapels and parish halls that it was ordered to put up for sale as part of the settlement with the victims. The properties, which were never sold to an outside party, are set to be purchased by a trust set up by the diocese. The diocese has raised nearly $6.5 million from parishioners, priests and churches acro Canada over the past year, so that the trust could purchase its aets. That planned purchase is part of the settlement and is not affected by the lawsuit, Robertson said. Newfoundland has been rocked by a series of sex-abuse scandals involving Catholic clergy, the most infamous of which spanned several decades at the former Mount Cashel Orphanage run by the Christian Brothers in St. John's.
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