In this file photo, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests, SNAP, protest outside Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, seat of the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in September 2006. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by
far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated
Press learned Saturday, July 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
LA church to pay $600M for clergy abuse
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its
clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the
church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday.
Attorneys for the archdiocese and the plaintiffs are expected to announce the
deal Monday, the day the first of more than 500 clergy abuse cases was
scheduled for jury selection, according to two people with knowledge of the
agreement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement
had not been made public.
The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650
million to about 500 plaintiffs an average of $1.2 million to $1.3 million
per person.
The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel
files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the sources
said.
The settlements would push the total amount paid out by the U.S. church since
1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los
Angeles archdiocese.
It wasn't immediately clear how the payout would be split among the insurers,
the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign
off on the agreement, and final details were being ironed out.
Lead plaintiffs' attorney Ray Boucher confirmed the sides were working on a
deal but would not discuss specifics. He said that negotiations would continue
through the weekend and that there were still many unresolved aspects.
Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, declined to comment on any settlement
details.
"The archdiocese will be in court Monday morning," he said.
Steven Sanchez, 47, was one of the plaintiffs set to go to trial Monday. He
was expected to testify in the trial involving the late Rev. Clinton Hagenbach.
Sanchez, a financial adviser, said the past few months have been especially
difficult because he had to repeat his story of abuse for depositions with his
attorneys and archdiocese attorneys in preparation for trial.
"We're 48 hours away from starting the trial, and I've been spending a lot of
time getting emotionally prepared to take them on, but I'm glad," he said.
"It's been a long five years."
The settlement would be the largest ever by a Roman Catholic archdiocese
since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. The largest
payout so far has been by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 2004, for $100
million.
Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane,
Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego sought bankruptcy
protection.
The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders
have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far.
The largest of those came in December, when the archdiocese reached a $60
million settlement with 45 people whose claims dated from before the mid-1950s
and after 1987 periods when it had little or no sexual abuse insurance.
Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar
settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the
Jesuits.
However, more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese had remained
unresolved despite years of legal wrangling. Most of the outstanding lawsuits
were generated by a 2002 state law that revoked for one year the statute of
limitations for reporting sexual abuse.
Cardinal Roger Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that the
archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and considering
the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds for a
settlement.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge overseeing the cases recently ruled
that Mahony could be called to testify in the second trial on schedule, and
attorneys for plaintiffs wanted to call him in many more.
The same judge also cleared the way for four people to seek punitive damages
something that could have opened the church to tens of millions of dollars in
payouts if the ruling had been expanded to other cases.S. church since 1950 to
more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles
archdiocese.
---------------------------------
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