Weer een schikking ter voorkoming van rechtszaak: $198,100.000 Bisdom San Diego

$198.1-million settlement in San Diego priest abuse claims
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 7, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- After years of negotiations, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego today announced a $198.1-million settlement with plaintiffs who said they were sexually abused by priests.

The agreement comes after several years of at times bitter negotiations between attorneys for the diocese and for 144 people who filed suit, claiming they were abused. At the end, negotiations were overseen by a federal judge.

The settlement came two months after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced it was settling more than 500 abuse cases for a total of $660 million.

The settlement is more than twice what the San Diego diocese offered before filing for bankruptcy protection in February, and is in line with the average settlement of about $1.3 million per victim in Los Angeles.

For months, San Diego diocese lawyers insisted the diocese did not have the insurance coverage or assets to make a larger settlement without crippling the church's spiritual and social-service efforts.

"This is a huge victory for brave, deeply hurt victims," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "Because of their courage, kids are safer today. Without their courage, dozens of predators might still be in parishes."

Asked about the dollar figure, Clohessy said, "No settlement is equitable. No amount of money can restore shattered dreams or stolen childhoods."

As part of its bankruptcy filing, the San Diego diocese had offered a settlement of about $95 million. But claimant attorneys protested that the figure was insultingly low and that the diocese had purposely underreported its financial worth.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge had threatened to throw out the diocese's bankruptcy filing as "forum shopping" and accused the diocese of trying to use the bankruptcy process to settle with victims for as little as possible.

Judge Louise De Carl Adler said that the diocese settlement offer of $95 million was "far below the historic statewide average" of payments made to victims of clerical abuse. She also criticized the diocese's financial record-keeping as Byzantine.

Adler ruled two weeks ago that 42 of the lawsuits could go to trial, which was seen as a prod to the diocese to settle.

The diocese, with nearly 1 million Catholics, had filed for bankruptcy protection on the eve of the first such trial.

Filing for bankruptcy protection put the lawsuits on hold; claimants said the diocese was trying to shield Bishop Robert Brom from testifying.

"We pray that this settlement will bring some closure and healing to the years of suffering experienced by these victims," Brom said in a statement.
tony.perry@latimes.com


washingtonpost:

Diocese Settles Abuse Claims for $198M

SAN DIEGO -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed Friday to pay nearly $200 million to 144 people who were sexually abused by clergy members, the second-largest payment since the U.S. abuse scandal erupted five years ago.

The $198.1 million agreement capped more than four years of negotiations in state and federal courts and came six months after the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection just hours before the first of 42 lawsuits was scheduled for trial.

Victims expressed relief that a settlement was reached _ but also anger that it took so long.
"They knew all along that I'd been molested, so to put me through this is unconscionable," said Michael Bang of Atlanta.

The diocese had sought to protect its assets in bankruptcy court, but quickly found it a rough venue before a judge who criticized the church for bookkeeping practices, undervaluing real estate holdings and failing to disclose facts.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler recently threatened to dismiss the case if an agreement was not struck by Tuesday in a last-ditch round of talks before a federal magistrate judge. Several victims also participated in the negotiations.

The San Diego diocese initially offered about $95 million to settle the claims. The victims were seeking about $200 million. verder...