Court won't dismiss church sex-abuse lawsuits

By The Associated Press

02.20.03

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BOSTON — A Superior Court judge has rejected an attempt by the Boston Archdiocese to dismiss more than 400 clergy sex-abuse lawsuits, paving the way for the lawsuits to go to trial.

In her 26-page opinion released yesterday, Judge Constance M. Sweeney ruled against the church’s arguments that the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion gives church officials immunity from civil courts.

“If the court were to recognize the defendants’ sweeping church autonomy doctrine, which would grant absolute civil immunity to church representatives, the result would be that church representatives could exercise all the rights and privileges the secular law affords yet not be burdened by any of the essential civil laws that protect the safety of all members of society, particularly children,” Sweeney said in her ruling.

Sweeney made two exceptions. She granted the church’s request to dismiss claims made within several lawsuits that church supervisors were negligent in their ordination of a priest or their failure to remove a priest from the priesthood, ruling that ordination and removal are “purely ecclesiastical matters that are not subject to judicial scrutiny.”

She also dismissed claims made within several lawsuits based on “canonical agency,” which argued that because a priest is a priest 24 hours a day, seven days a week, church supervisors can be held liable for anything he does.

In a statement, archdiocese spokeswoman Donna M. Morrissey said the church is reviewing the ruling, and “no decisions have been made regarding an appeal.” The church has 30 days to appeal.

The Rev. Christopher Coyne, a church spokesman, said the archdiocese remains committed to settling the lawsuits.

Even as Sweeney’s ruling removed a roadblock for the trials, the church’s lawyers served notice that they will ask the judge to postpone any civil trial until all criminal charges against the Rev. Paul R. Shanley have been resolved.

Alleged victims yesterday said they were pleased that the judge allowed their lawsuits to proceed toward trial.

“This is my cure,” said John J. King, an alleged victim of the Rev. Ronald H. Paquin. “I’ll continue as long as I can.”

Church officials had argued that the separation of church and state bars civil courts from getting involved in how church officials supervise priests. The archdiocese has said its legal challenge was required to satisfy its insurance carriers that it had done everything possible to defend itself against the lawsuits.

Church officials hope that at least a portion of any settlement costs, estimated at millions of dollars, will be covered by insurance.

Lawyers for alleged victims had argued that the separation of church and state does not protect the conduct of church supervisors or priests.

“This recognizes that the church — merely by its status as a religious institution — is not above and beyond the law,” said attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr., whose firm represents 270 alleged victims.

In their bid to get the lawsuits dismissed, church lawyers argued that the court does not have jurisdiction over cases involving the relationship between a church supervisor and a priest.

But Sweeney ruled that the lawsuits do not involve internal church disputes, but instead are claims made by third parties against church officials for alleged negligence in their supervision of priests whom they knew had been accused of sexually abusing children.

Church documents released publicly over the past year show that church supervisors shuffled accused priests from parish to parish instead of keeping them out of positions where they had contact with children.

The scandal has rocked the archdiocese for the past year, leading in mid-December to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law as archbishop. Law was appointed in 1984 as the leader of the nation’s fourth-largest diocese.

Meanwhile last week, motions to ask Sweeney for a court-approved, 90-day moratorium on the litigation were finalized and signed by lawyers on both sides. The motions were expected to be filed this week by church lawyers, said attorney Jeffrey Newman, a partner with MacLeish who represents hundreds of victims.

Wilson Rogers Jr., the lead attorney representing the archdiocese, did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

The motions seek to suspend all action on the lawsuits so that the two sides can focus on ongoing settlement negotiations.

The agreement would make exceptions for two lawsuits that accuse the Rev. Paul R. Shanley of abuse. Gregory Ford and Paul Busa both claim that Shanley sexually abused them at St. Jean’s parish in Newton when they were children.

Shanley is awaiting trial on 16 charges for allegedly sexually abusing four boys at St. Jean’s from 1979 to 1989, including Ford and Busa.

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Church seeks First Amendment protection from sex-abuse lawsuits
Boston archdiocese asks judge to dismiss suits but says church officials are still committed to reaching settlement.  12.24.02