L.A. Archdiocese to pay victims

LOS ANGELES – Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said Friday that the Los Angeles Archdiocese had agreed to pay $60 million to 45 people who said they were abused by Roman Catholic priests – a payout that would be among the highest per person since the clergy sex abuse scandal exploded four years ago.

But within hours, plaintiffs’ attorneys said Mahony had “jumped the gun” in announcing a settlement. Raymond P. Boucher, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, confirmed that they were “on the verge of settling” but said “there are still some issues to be ironed out.”

The payments cover just a fraction of the 570 claims filed against the nation’s largest archdiocese, setting the stage for payouts in the hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve the cases still pending. The cases settled Friday resolve only allegations of abuse in years the archdiocese was either not insured or was underinsured – cases that took place before 1954 or after 1986.

Mahony, who called reporters Friday morning to report the settlement, later expressed surprise at the reaction of plaintiffs’ lawyers.

He said he made the announcement after the two sides reached a “handshake deal” in the case in front of a judge this week.

Mahony said the planned payout would not adversely affect parish functions or ministries.

“We set aside last year $40 million for this settlement. While it is painful, no parishes are affected,” he said. The remaining $20 million would come from limited insurance payouts, as well as $8 million from five religious orders that had members involved in the cases, said attorney J. Michael Hennigan, who negotiated on behalf of the archdiocese.

Mahony said the settlement was “very important to us.”

“This is a major effort at healing and reconciliation,” he said.

But some advocates for victims of clergy abuse remained skeptical.

“No amount of money can possibly restore the shattered childhoods, the broken trust and the devastated emotional lives of these courageous but wounded men and women,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It’s crucial that this settlement be seen as what it is: a purely business decision by Mahony, and nothing more. We must remember that he fought disclosure and settlement at every juncture.”

SNAP leaders also questioned Mahony’s decision to announce the settlement before documents were signed.

The negotiated settlement does not include any admission of liability on the part of the church, according to Boucher. But he added: “You don’t pay $60 million unless you admit there is responsibility.”

It was unclear how much new light would be shed on a scandal that has reached throughout the archdiocese.

Three of four parishes in the 4.3 million member archdiocese – which covers Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties – have been served by a priest who at some time in his career was accused of sexual abuse.

Mahony has fought in court to keep church personnel records from prosecutors and plaintiffs’ attorneys – a major point of contention in efforts to reach resolutions of all cases still facing the church.

In the settlement Mahony announced Friday, the parties agreed to ask retired California Supreme Court Justice Edward Panelli to decide which, if any, documents would be released.

Donald Steier, an attorney representing 11 accused priests in the settlement, said he was “pleased that these cases are moving forward toward resolution.”

“Our only disappointment is that the parties agreed to a global settlement,” he said, “which did not take into account the circumstances of each individual case.”

The settlement of at least some cases facing the church became imminent after Judge Haley J. Fromholz, frustrated by the lack of progress in negotiations, ordered lawyers to begin preparing 44 cases for trial. The first such case was set for trial in January but has since been postponed. None of the cases green-lighted for trial were among those said to be close to resolution Friday.

Both church officials and attorneys representing those suing said Friday that much of their focus would now turn toward the more than 500 cases from the time period when the church had insurance coverage.

“The task will be for the insurance companies to step forward,” Mahony said Friday. “I feel much more energized for the other 500 cases now. We anticipate there will be further pain down the road for us.”

Boucher said the settlement of the 45 cases puts pressure on all parties to reach agreements in the remaining cases.

“We are pushing the remaining cases toward trial and hoping the parties can resolve them through settlement,” he said.

Times staff writers Megan Garvey, Louis Sahugun, Jessica Garrison, Jill Leovy and Peter Hong contributed to this report.

For a searchable database of priests and parishes named in sexual abuse allegations, see latimes.com/priests.