Lawyer calls diocese settlement offer too low
''These offers are unreasonable, insulting, and unchristian," Durso said. ''The offers are so low -- they're 10 to 20 percent of what other places have offered -- they devalue the lives of the people abused."
A diocese official would not comment on the amount of church settlement offers, but he acknowledged they're lower than those offered to victims of clergy abuse in Boston and elsewhere. Last year, the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million to settle 541 sexual-abuse claims.
The reason the offers are lower, Diocese Chancellor Thomas Sullivan said, is because the church is claiming ''charitable immunity," and therefore, by law, does not have to pay victims more than $20,000.
''These offers are certainly lower," said Sullivan, noting the Supreme Judicial Court ruling this year against plaintiffs seeking to outlaw state caps on the legal liability of charitable institutions. ''All future litigation, not just in clergy sexual abuse, will be far less because of the charitable immunity caps."
The diocese also has kept its offers low, he said, because officials contend many of the cases lack merit. ''Some of the cases have very weak merits," Sullivan said. ''You do more for victims of egregious claims than those without as much merit."
At a news conference yesterday, Durso also called on Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus to meet with the alleged victims and their attorneys.
But Sullivan said the bishop would not meet with them until after the
litigation is resolved. ''It's not going to happen," he said. 
Wednesday,
October 20, 2004
Diocese urged to settle
claims
Lawyer calls current offers ‘un-Christian’
WORCESTER— Boston lawyer Carmen L. Durso yesterday
called on the Diocese of Worcester to bypass the court system and enter into
direct negotiations to settle the pending lawsuits alleging clergy sexual
abuse.
Lawyers representing the diocese are offering as little as $3,000 or $7,500
in some of these cases, said Mr. Durso, who represents 10 alleged clergy
abuse victims in the Worcester diocese. He called the offers “insulting,
demeaning and un-Christian.”
Mr. Durso said the diocese is adhering to the state’s charitable immunity
cap on settlements while other dioceses, including Boston, have waived or
modified it to properly compensate victims.
James Gavin Reardon Jr., lawyer for the diocese, said the lawyers for
plaintiffs are “entitled to their opinion” but he said they and their
clients chose to file civil suits and they need to be resolved through the
legal system.
Mr. Reardon said several suits have been settled and others should be moving
to trial by June. He said the cases are moving forward in a professional
manner. Some plaintiffs have chosen to settle their suits for the amounts
offered while others have not, he added. “It’s their right,” he said.
“I don’t see that as realistic,” Mr. Reardon said of the lawyers’ request
that direct negotiations open with the diocese. “These civil suits need to
be resolved,” he added.
A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Mr. Durso referred to a
Catholic doctrine of restorative justice that teaches that a Christian who
has wronged another person has a responsibility to make adequate
compensation.
Mr. Durso, joined by lawyers Daniel J. Shea of Houston and Nance Lyons of
Boston during a press conference, said his research shows Worcester is
making the lowest settlement offers of any diocese in the United States and
the world.
They were also joined in front of the courthouse’s statue of Moses by a
mother of an alleged clergy abuse victim, two alleged clergy abuse victims
and representatives of Voice of the Faithful and Worcester Voice. The press
conference followed a hearing at which the lawyers reported on the status of
their cases to Judge Jeffrey A. Locke, who has been assigned to handle the
clergy abuse cases in the Worcester Diocese.
“I want to see my child smile again,” said Eunice White of Worcester, who
identified herself as the mother of an alleged victim of the Rev. Raymond P.
Messier.
She referred to a statement made by Bishop Robert J. McManus in opposition
to homosexual activity that “a man should not be with a man.”
“I will say that a priest should not be with a boy,” Mrs. White said. She
said she remains a devout Catholic, despite the alleged abuse of her son. “I
have never blamed God or my faith. I blame the people running the church.”
David Lewcon of Uxbridge, alleged victim of the Rev. Thomas Teczar, said he
settled his civil suit against the diocese for $110,000 five years ago. “And
I thought that was cheap,” he said. Mr. Lewcon said his civil suit dragged
on for eight years before being settled.
Mr. Durso said the diocese at one time would waive the charitable immunity
cap, which is $20,000, and give a victim more money if he or she was willing
to sign a confidentially agreement and remain silent about the abuse.
Phil Saviano, now in the Boston area, accepted a settlement of about $12,000
in his lawsuit against the diocese in the 1990s but would have gotten more
if he had agreed to the confidentiality clause, he said. An alleged victim
of the Rev. David A. Holley, Mr. Saviano refused to remain silent and took
the lesser amount.
Mr. Lewcon said he knows that during the 1990s suits were settled for as
high as $350,000 with confidentiality agreements.
“It’s a blot on Worcester,” said Daniel Dick of Worcester, who said the
diocese should offer the victims more money. If the diocese will not do it,
he suggested that community leaders and elected officials mobilize to bring
these civil suits to a just conclusion.
Mr. Dick is a victim support advocate for Worcester Diocese Voice of the
Faithful, a group of Catholics that formed throughout the United States in
the wake of the clergy abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.
Susan Renehan of Southbridge, who is with the Coalition of Catholics and
Survivors, said the money being offered will not cover therapy for a year
for a victim.
The diocese said in its report to the bishops’ National Review Board that 45
priests were credibly accused of sexual abuse and a total of $2.3 million
was paid out in settlements between 1950 and 2003. Most of the money came
from insurance.
October 19, 2004
Worcester Diocese offers lowest clergy abuse settlement amounts in the nation.
Attorney Carmen Durso stood in front of the full-sized statue of Moses in Worcester Superior Court yesterday and made a stunning statement.
Settlement offers made to clergy sexual abuse victims in Worcester are the lowest in the United States. Offers presented by Travelers Insurance Co. representative Joanne Goulka, an attorney, were as low as $3,000 for some and as high as $7,500 for others which Mr. Durso believes are insulting and demeaning to victims.
Also in attendance to voice their dissatisfaction were Attorney Nance Lyons of Boston, Attorney Daniel Shea of Houston, Texas, and Eunice White of Worcester, parent of an alleged clergy abuse victim.
Attorney Durso, who currently represents ten (10) Worcester clergy sexual abuse survivors, feels the diocese has placed a minimum value on their lives. Two of his victims – brothers - were groped in the sacristy every Sunday before mass for two years. When it became obvious to the older brother that no escape was possible, he would then protect the younger one.
Eunice White, mother of an alleged victim, in a trembling voice declared that in 1980 she had a face-to-face meeting with then Bishop Timothy Harrington about the abuse of her son by a priest and he declared he would handle the matter. “In 1980 you believed your Bishop,’’ she said. Father Raymond Messier was then transferred to another parish and was finally removed from ministry when the scandal arose in 2002. Ms. White proclaimed, “God did not want this and priest should not be with boys”. She challenged Bishop Robert McManus to take responsibility for the actions of these priests and settle the cases fairly and with dignity for the victims. She wants to see her son smile again.
In a show of solidarity for victims of clergy sexual abuse, Mr. David Lewcon displayed the Worcester Diocese Cross of Shame in front of the Worcester Superior Court. Mr. Daniel Dick, victim advocate for the Worcester VOTF, stated “These actions have only been allowed to occur due to the lack of action within the justice system. When this is allowed to occur it places a blight on our entire community. The Bishop is not alone in failing our children”.
Attorney Durso hopes to meet Bishop McManus to seek justice for victims that reflects what has happened in other dioceses in Massachusetts. In Boston, the long time legal representation of the Archdiocese of Boston were replaced and the insurance company lawyers were fired. Only then were agreeable settlements reached. Attorney Durso would also like to see Bishop McManus follow his installation pledge, apply the Christian doctrine of restorative justice ,which means to make things right when you have committed a wrong. and end the suffering of theses victims which has lasted for years.
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