By Megan Baldino
KTUU
December 18, 2009
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=11697886
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| Attorneys for sex abuse victims say the insurance company for the Fairbanks Diocese is not distributing settlement money. |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Attorneys for victims of clergy sex abuse in Alaska say it is despicable, after they claim the Fairbanks diocese insurance company is refusing to pay settlement money for victims.
Thursday's statement came after the Fairbanks diocese submitted a new bankruptcy reorganization plan.
According to attorneys for the victims, Catholic Mutual is refusing to pay the diocese money that has been agreed to in a settlement.
They say for 10 years the insurance company, run by the Catholic church, has tried to prevent Alaska Native victims from receiving justice.
"It means delay, it means that despite the fact that we have been pursuing the bishop for seven years on behalf of the victims to the point where he has declared bankruptcy and is now emerging from bankruptcy, we still have potentially two to three more years of litigation with the insurance carriers because they refuse to give Alaska Native victims the same treatment as they've given to non-Native victims in the Lower 48," said Kenneth Roosa, an attorney for some of the victims.
Calls to the spokesperson for the Fairbanks diocese have not yet been returned and efforts to reach Catholic Mutual have so far been unsuccessful.
Contact Megan Baldino at mbaldino@ktuu.com
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