Judge Fines N.Y. Attorney Over 'Baseless' Church Abuse Cases

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NEW YORK (AP)  -- A federaljudge has fined an attorney $8,000 for repeatedly bringing lawsuitsaccusing Roman Catholic leaders of conspiring to cover up sexual abuseby priests.

In a harshly worded ruling made public Friday, U.S.District Judge Paul A. Crotty took New York lawyer John A. Aretakis totask for bringing a series of ``utterly baseless'' suits claiming thechurch's actions amounted to racketeering.

Each of thoselawsuits were subsequently thrown out by judges who said theallegations, even if true, didn't violate racketeering laws designed todeal with criminal enterprises like the Mafia.

"No reasonableattorney would have believed these claims were warranted under existinglaw,'' Crotty wrote in a Thursday decision that was posted Friday on acourt Web site.

The sanctions came as part of a ruling in whichCrotty tossed out yet another racketeering lawsuit filed on behalf ofone of Aretakis' clients. This one involved a priest in Newark, N.J.,the Rev. Robert Hoatson, who claimed he was forced out of a parochialschool job for being critical of the church's handling of abuse cases.

Aretakis, a vocal church critic who represents scores of abuse victims, vowed to appeal.

Hesaid there was nothing frivolous about claims that church officials hadengaged in "an organized, institutional, long-ranging criminalconspiracy'' by trying to protect priests accused of molesting children.

"Itreally is a slap in the face to everything this country has learnedabout the Catholic Church and predatory Catholic priests over the pastfive years,'' he said of Crotty's ruling.

Aretakis also claimed the judge was too closely involved with the church to be fair about the case.

The ruling left open the possibility that Hoatson could still sue in state court over the loss of his job.

Lawyersacross the country have attempted to bring federal racketeering casesagainst Catholic leaders, in part because victims are barred from suingin many state courts if they wait too long to come forward. Attempts tomake such a racketeering argument work, however, have almost entirelyfailed.

In a majority of the recent cases involving abuse by religious figures, the victims kept the attacks to themselves for decades.

Hoatsonhad named the Archdiocese of Newark, the Archdiocese of New York andthe Diocese of Albany, among others, as defendants in his suit.

Ken Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Diocese of Albany, applauded the judge's ruling.

"Thereare legitimate victims out there who did suffer abuse at the hands ofclergy. We are not denying that at all,'' he said. "But the lawsuitsthis individual has filed on behalf of his clients have focused onother issues, not related to the original abuse, and they arebaseless.''

Officials at the archdioceses in New York and Newark declined to comment Friday.