Oregon Catholic sex abuse cases head to court

By Teresa Carson

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) – A federal bankruptcy judge
sent a group of priest sex abuse cases back to court on
Wednesday for trial or settlement after an 18-month delay
because of the Portland Catholic archdiocese’s bankruptcy
proceedings.

“I really hope we can move forward,” federal bankruptcy
Judge Elizabeth Perris told the packed courtroom.

Facing huge financial claims from scores of priest sex
abuse lawsuits, the Portland archdiocese became the first in
the nation to file for bankruptcy in July 2004.

The archdioceses of Spokane, Washington and Tuscon, Arizona
have since made similar filings as other Catholic archdiocese
around the nation have scrambled to pay claims. In Boston the
archdiocese has sold 60 churches and schools.

In Portland, all the cases of alleged abuse of children by
priests have been frozen while lawyers wrangled over various
issues in the bankruptcy case. The bankruptcy and sexual abuse
cases are intertwined because the amount of potential claims
from abuse victims is a key factor in determining the
archdiocese’s liabilities.

“This has been a tug-of-war between extreme positions,”
Perris said in her tentative ruling on Wednesday.

Perris is sending some of the cases to federal courts and
some to state courts, depending on what the abuse survivors are
seeking. The bankruptcy court had tried to settle the claims
through mediation, but that was largely unsuccessful.

“We’ve been on a ship for 18 months that hasn’t left port,”
David Slader, an attorney for 12 people who allege they were
sexually abused, told the judge.

The Portland cases have dragged on over several key issues,
including determining the assets of the church.

The archdiocese, which serves about 350,000 Catholics in
western Oregon, had argued that it did not control the parish
assets such as churches, schools and other parish property.

But Judge Perris disagreed and ruled in late December that
the archdiocese does control the assets of the parishes and
these assets could be used to settle the sex abuse claims.

There are about 150 sex abuse cases yet to be resolved in
the Portland archdiocese.

$50 MILLION IN SETTLEMENTS

The archdiocese has paid out more than $50 million in
settlements in the last five decades. The archdiocese has about
$100 million in various investments and accounts that could be
tapped to pay any claims.

The first cases will likely be tried in a matter of months,
Slader said. Some of them will likely settle out of court.

“Today’s ruling at least provides for an orderly way to
handle the trials in these cases,” archdiocese spokesman Bud
Bunce said. But he added that the church feels its resources
are better spent on the bankruptcy reorganization plan and
settlements rather than trials.

Earlier this week, William Levada, former archbishop of
Portland and now a top Vatican official, was grilled for seven
hours behind closed doors.

An attorney said the sex abuse victims were trying to find
out how much the former head priest in Portland knew about the
abuse. Victims charge that the church did not remove the
abusive priests and left them in positions that allowed them to
continue to abuse victims sexually.