Portland Diocese Files Bankruptcy Amid Sex Claims
Wed Jul 7,12:05 AM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Teresa Carson
PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - The Archdiocese of Portland, struggling to settle scores of sexual abuse charges dating back decades, on Tuesday said it had filed for bankruptcy in what it believed was the first such action by a U.S. Roman Catholic diocese.
The move halts two trials seeking a total of $155 million, that were slated to start on Tuesday, Archbishop John Vlazny told reporters, saying bankruptcy would allow the Roman Catholic church to pay all claims without selling off parish assets.
"It will allow us to continue our good works without fear of an impending large verdict. The operation of our parishes and schools will continue as usual," Vlazny said.
The archdiocese has paid $21 million from its own funds to settle claims in the last four years and $53 million over the last five decades, Vlazny said, but insurance companies have refused to cover some 60 current claims.
"The pot of gold is pretty much empty right now," Vlazny said. "Major insurance companies are not paying what they should on the claims."
The church, which serves about 350,000 parishioners in Oregon, declined to name its insurers. It said it believed it was the first U.S. Roman Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy protection.
Plaintiffs in the latest cases, who accuse former priest Maurice Grammond of abusing more than 50 boys in the 1980s, blasted the church for "ducking its responsibility" and trying to avoid public disclosure of the details at a trial.
"For me it was like having sex with God," said James Devereaux, who rejected a settlement offer from the church. "I knew I had committed the ultimate sin and that I was doomed."
Added plaintiff's attorney David Slader: "They (the church) have taken the cheap and easy way out and have bucked responsibility."
The bankruptcy filing turns the plaintiffs into unsecured creditors along with other victims who might claim damages against the church, said Bill Barton, another plaintiff's attorney.
"I'm terribly disappointed," Barton told Reuters by telephone, adding that his client had rejected a cash settlement offer.
Grammond, who died in 2002, showed little remorse, according to a potentially damaging deposition in which he said: "I'd say these children abused me. They'd dive in my lap to get sexual excitement," attorneys in the case said.
Several other U.S. parishes have avoided bankruptcy by selling real estate and other holdings, including Boston's archdiocese, which last April agreed to sell land and buildings for more than $100 million to fund legal settlements to hundreds of abuse victims.
"I have no authority to seize parish property," Vlazny said. "Neither can I, nor would I, use other assets held in charitable trust."
Parishioners voiced concern and sadness over the plan by the diocese to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
"It is worrisome since we don't know what this bankruptcy will bring," said John Dunbar, a member of St. Andrews Catholic Church in Portland. "It is a sad day that it has come to this." |
