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Article Category: 2007 February
Description: The number of lawsuits accusing priests in Vermont's Roman Catholic Diocese of sexual abuse continues to grow, as do the church
Article originally prepared on : 05 February 2007
BURLINGTON,Vt. -- The number of lawsuits accusing priests in Vermont's RomanCatholic Diocese of sexual abuse continues to grow, as do the church'sfinancial worries.
The church faced 16 lawsuits about allegedsex abuse _ much of it dating back decades _ when it reached a $985,000settlement of one of the suits last April. Now it faces 26 civil casesand is following the case of a priest facing a current criminal charge.Rev.Stephen J. Nichols, 47, is scheduled to go on trial in April in St.Albans for felony lewd and lascivious conduct for allegedly fondling anaked 18-year-old man in 2005.Criminal charges are not possiblein many of the cases, some dating to the 1970s, because Vermont'sstatute of limitations for the crimes involved has expired, authoritiessay.Meanwhile, the diocesan deficit, $127,947 at the start ofthe last fiscal year, has grown tenfold because of the lawsuits. Legalwrangling abounds. The church's longtime lawyer has just made a thirdbid to get the judge hearing the cases replaced.Some of thechurch's accusers want to know why the cases are taking so long to moveforward, said the lawyer representing all 26, Jerome O'Neill ofBurlington. "The diocese has no interest in getting these casesresolved promptly," he said. "It uses any procedural mechanism thatwill slow a case down."The diocese says it wants a just outcome."Icertainly don't think it's ethical for me to deny my client the rightto have issues reviewed in the interest of due process," church lawyerDavid Cleary of Rutland says. "This is taking its normal course. Thenormal time to trial is somewhere between two to three years after asuit is filed."While the diocese is the defendant in thelawsuits alleging abuse, it is the plaintiff in another. The church issuing its former insurance company to recover costs stemming from someof the lawsuits, saying it had a comprehensive liability policy withthe United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. from 1973 to 1978.Thecompany, now part of the St. Paul Travelers Companies of St. Paul,Minn., has agreed to pay legal fees for cases in which alleged actstook place during the time the policy was in force. But it says itshould not have to cover costs stemming from abuse by priests if it'sproven the church continued to employ the priest even when it knew ofpast misconduct.___Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/If you wish to keep this article alive in the Internet Archive simply click the link below.
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