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	Diocese of Orange Settles Four Church Abuse Cases before Trial By Gillian Flaccus San Jose Mercury News October 5, 2007 http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7097409?nclick_check=1 SANTA ANA, Calif.—The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange said Friday it would pay nearly $7 million to settle four sexual abuse lawsuits, including one that has the bishop facing contempt of court proceedings for sending a monsignor out of the country before he could testify. The lawsuits involved allegations against three lay teachers at Mater Dei High School and Santa Margarita High School, as well as a lay musician at a neighborhood parish. The case against a coach at Mater Dei High School had put Bishop Tod D. Brown in the extremely unusual position of having to sit for the contempt of court hearing. If the hearing goes forward and Brown is found to be in contempt, he could face a range of sanctions, from a reprimand to fines to jail time. "I'm sorry that any of this happened and that even one person was abused," Brown said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "We've taken every possible position that we can to make sure this doesn't happen again and I hope it doesn't." The diocese will pay $6.685 million to the four plaintiffs, making an average payout of $1.7 million per person. That figure is significantly higher than earlier settlements in the dioceses of Orange County and Los Angeles, where plaintiffs received about $1.1 million and $1.3 million, respectively. Defense lawyers said they had not reached the settlement to avoid Brown's contempt of court hearing for sending a key witness to Canada for medical treatment. Brown will insist on going forward with the hearing Tuesday to clear his name, said Peter Callahan, the bishop's attorney. "The story is going to be that we settled to avoid the contempt charge and that's just a darn untruth," Callahan said. Venus Soltan, a plaintiff's attorney, said her legal team had hoped to use any contempt ruling to get more latitude from the judge—such as allowing more evidence or banning certain evidence from the defense—if the case had reached trial. Sarah Gray, one of the plaintiffs, said she was pleased to have a settlement, but still was recovering from the abuse. "I really wanted to go to trial and at the same time, I think, the settlement really accords the same amount of accountability to the diocese," said Gray, who alleged she was molested by her choir teacher in the late 1990s at Mater Dei. "Every part of it has been very stressful and very difficult." The cases were the first to be filed since 2004, when the Diocese of Orange reached a $100 million settlement with about 90 plaintiffs, many of them from Mater Dei. Orange County Superior Court Judge Gail Andler earlier this week ordered a hearing to determine if Brown should be held in contempt of court. Brown denied Friday that he sent Msgr. John Urell away to keep evidence out of the court's hands. He said he chose Southdown Institute in Ontario because it has an excellent record and Urell needed immediate attention. Plaintiffs' attorneys alleged that Urell had critical information on how the diocese handled complaints of abuse and wanted to send him away to prevent his testimony. "I don't think I am in contempt of court," Brown said. "I look forward to having the matter finished and being cleared of that innuendo." Also set for next week was a hearing on whether the judge would compel Urell to complete his deposition. It was unclear if that was still going forward. The first case was scheduled for trial Oct. 15. Ryan DiMaria, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the agreement calls for the release of all church documents relating to the alleged abuse. He said he believed that diocese attorneys had been particularly tough on the clients during depositions. "Basically, they tried to run over those clients in the way that they used to in the early 1990s and they have not learned that it just doesn't work," he said. "They treated each one of those victims as greedy kids and as if they were as much to blame as the adult." Sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests has cost the U.S. church at least $2.3 billion since 1950. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles paid $660 million to about 500 people and the Diocese of San Diego paid $198 million to 144 plaintiffs.
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