Retired Bishop Gets More Time to Respond to Sex Abuse Suit
By Haidee V Eugenio
Saipan retired Bishop Tomas A. Camacho has been granted more time to respond to a former altar boy’s lawsuit, alleging that the former Guam priest raped and sexually abused him in the 1970s. Camacho has until March 31 to file his response because his attorney, William M. Fitzgerald, will be in the mainland for a medical check up. The additional time is part of a stipulation between Fitzgerald and attorney David Lujan, counsel for plaintiff Melvin Duenas, now a 55-year-old Yona resident. U.S. District Court of Guam Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan signed the stipulation on Feb. 28. Duenas, through Lujan, filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam on Feb. 13 a lawsuit alleging that Camacho sexually abused and raped him multiple times from approximately 1971 to 1974, when Camacho was priest at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Inarajan. Meanwhile, Manibusan granted the Archdiocese of Agana’s request for more time, or up to March 10, 2017, to respond to clergy sex abuse cases previously filed in federal court. The judge also granted the petition of four California-based attorneys to be co-counsel, along with a Guam law firm, for the archdiocese in the clergy sex abuse cases. The archdiocese is so far facing 23 lawsuits totaling $115 million in general damages. The lawsuits were filed by former altar boys alleging they were sexually abused by Catholic priests in the 1950s to the 1980s. Gov. Eddie B. Calvo on Sept. 23, 2016, signed a bill into law, eliminating the statute of limitations on lawsuits against those who accused of abusing children, as well as the institutions that supported them. Contact: heugenio@guampdn.com
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