February 24, 2010 in City

Judge orders diocese to pay

Contempt of court found in sex abuse, bankruptcy case

• Print
• Email
• Share

A federal judge ruled that the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, its law firm Paine Hamblen, and one of the firm’s attorneys, Gregory Arpin, are in contempt of court for using intimidation tactics against a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams stopped short Tuesday of issuing costly sanctions, but ordered the diocese and its attorneys to pay what will be expensive legal costs of the trustee and others.

She delivered a curt order designed to blunt future threats from the diocese while clearing the way for the trustee, Gloria Nagler, to pay people who have shown they were sexually abused by Catholic clergy.

A $48 million settlement for victims of clergy sex abuse reached in 2007 left open what the diocese assumed would be the slight possibility of new claims, called future claims.

There have now been at least 21 of these new claims, brought by people who say they were sexually abused by clergy decades ago – a number that has surprised the diocese and its legal team. There have been no accusations of recent abuse.

Some of the claims already have been allowed by a special case reviewer, although the diocese is pursuing an appeal.

Despite the appeal, the Bankruptcy Court judge ordered Nagler, the trustee, to proceed with payments on the future claims. Arpin sent an e-mail to Nagler threatening to sue the trustee personally if the diocese won its appeal after she had paid the claims, according to court records.

Williams ruled that the e-mail constituted a threat.

John Munding, an attorney from a separate firm that also represents the diocese, said that while the contempt ruling is disappointing, the diocese respects the judge’s opinion.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy in late 2004, one of the first Catholic entities in the country to do so as dozens of people began filing lawsuits, hiring attorneys and telling disturbing stories to the church hierarchy and the public regarding decades of sex abuse by clergy.

The diocese has posted on its Web site the names of 27 diocese priests, Jesuits and members of other Catholic religious orders who ministered in the region and sexually abused children.

A total of 184 victims came forward to file claims. Churchgoers paid $10 million of the $48 million settlement. The diocese worries that these new claims are bogus and could drain a special $1 million fund within the settlement that must be replenished. Parish property has been pledged as collateral to ensure the settlement funds are adequate.

Confidentiality orders in the case prevent the disclosure of the names or other information about alleged victims.

Eight comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  steveeugster on February 24 at 9:23 a.m.

  There is more to the story see http://www.washcourts.com/?p=454

• 

  Scoutster on February 24 at 10:35 a.m.

  I hope someday the Church can find a way to live in the world without trying to run it.

  Slimy.

• 

  Hank_Tingler on February 24 at 10:40 a.m.

  Perhaps some incarceration time for these miscreants?

• 

  SNAPnetwork on February 24 at 10:53 a.m.

  More and more, across the US, church lawyers are playing “hardball,” sometimes inappropriately or excessively, with clergy sex abuse victims and their advocates. It’s rare, but reassuring, when one of them gets exposed and punished.
  
  David Clohessy, National Director, SNAP-Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, 7234 Arsenal Street, St. Louis MO 63143 (314 566 9790), SNAPnetwork.org, SNAPclohessy@aol.

• 

  victoriag on February 24 at 3:49 p.m.

  The Roman Catholic Church should be devoting every resource at their disposal to help these Children of Our Lord Jesus Christ who have been sexually violated by the Clergy and Hierarchy of of Our Church. And if that means that the Catholic Church is left with only one altar on which to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it would be worth it. If this is done, then, when those who lead the Catholic Church stand before the ONE who will someday judge us all, they can truthfully say, “Yes, Lord, We Did All We Could.” However, I’m afraid all they will be able to say is, “Lord, We Concealed and Protected Our Pedophile and Sexually Predatory Clergy. We Passed Them On To Other Suspecting Parishes, And Even More Unsuspecting Victims. We Lied Under Sacred Oath, And By Doing So, Caused Further Suffering To The Already Suffering Victims. We Even Caused So Much Grief To The Victims That Some Lost Hope And Took Their Own Lives. Still Worse, Because Of Us, Some Lost Faith In Their Loving And Merciful GOD. All We Can Say Now Is, “SORRY”.

• 

  JJones on February 24 at 6:29 p.m.

  “The diocese worries that these new claims are bogus and could drain a special $1 million fund within the settlement that must be replenished”.

  The claims are bogus??

  I hardly think the diocese is worried about that..they are most likely worried that these claims are true, and they are going to be exposed for having allowed child predators abuse more kids..

• 

  Juanito1 on February 25 at 3:50 a.m.

  Whatever happened to the commie idea of separation of Church and state? Well, here the State should stay out of the Church’s affairs. It has no right to hold the Church in contempt. To Hell with the Federal judge! Drop dead and burn in Hell! And while were on the subject of sex abuse, why aren’t pubic schools sued up the @$$ like the Church has been. The sex abuse that takes place there is more rampant and goes on even today! You hypocritical dirty pagan commie liberals make me sick!

• 

  mregan on February 25 at 4:48 p.m.

  I AM the Catholic Church; my sister is the Catholic church; my neighbor is the Catholic Church. WE didn’t molest anyone! The Church doesn’t consist of only clergy! I am sorry for the horrible and criminal damage done to the abuse victims, but they aren’t suing the guilty parties (the clergy that abused them); they’re suing US, the parishioners—the abuser doesn’t pay anything. Money won’t fix what happened to them. No amount—not millions or billions. If the victims want justice, sue and punish the PRIEST who did the abuse, or the Bishop who covered it up—not the parishioners. We didn’t commit the crimes. Our immigrant great grandparents, who donated until it hurt didn’t commit these crimes, so why should they, and all of us be expected to pay? Why should our partimony be sold off to satisfy these claims? Punish the people who are actually responsible and not the rest of the church population. The poor victims have been duped by their lawyers into believing that getting large (or even small) money awards is somehow justice, but the actual abuser doesn’t pay a cent; WE do—the parishioners. Why do WE get punished because of some rotten clergy? This isn’t justice. It is trading abuse for money. Some of these people claim (and maybe truthfully so) to have been abused 30 years ago. Some of the alleged priest abusers are even dead! If the victims think that getting innocent parishioners to pay for the crimes of others is fair, I don’t think they’ll experience satisfaction in this lifetime. I won’t pretend to counsel them, and I really do hurt for what they went through, but draining the Church’s coffers, which should go towards true chariable efforts, is only taking money from we, who built up those coffers for that purpose, and doesn’t do a thing to bring justice to the abusers nor help their victims. I don’t give each week for my money to go towards a pay out; I give money in the hopes that someone who really needs help can get it. And in that vein, if the victims need help of any kind, we should pay for that help, in the name of charity. But parishioners being forced to give bags of money to them doesn’t help heal what happened to them.