Lujan determined to prove District Court has jurisdiction

By Krystal Paco
KUAM
May 2, 2017

http://www.kuam.com/story/35299486/2017/05/Monday/lujan-determined-to-prove-district-court-has-jurisdiction

Another round of clergy sex abuse cases was on the calendar in federal court today, but like the previous batch, the question of whether they actually belong there was raised. On the docket today were the plaintiffs accusing Archbishop Anthony Apuron and Father David Anderson of child sex abuse.

But the hearing didn't get very far because of questions raised as to jurisdiction or whether it even belongs in the District Court.

KUAM News asked Attorney David Lujan if he was concerned that he wouldn't be able to prove jurisdiction for a majority of your clients, to which he replied, "I think we'll be able to prove for a majority of our clients. But then, you know, even the ones we don't prove jurisdiction of course we're back in superior court. So all it means is that it transfers courts, you know."

Attorney Jacque Terlaje represents Apuron, who maintains his innocence. During the hearing she moved the cases be thrown out. She said, "Generally speaking, when you're dealing with civil pleadings the plaintiff has the absolute burden to set forth certain things in order for the court to attain jurisdiction of the matter. And so essentially what was occurring in the hearing was that there was a proffer of certain evidence outside of that document so essentially I told the court the best way to deal with this issue is to dismiss it if the plaintiff has not met that burden and to start all over again essentially."

But starting all over, for example if in the superior court could be a difficult task as the whole reason why Attorney Lujan moved the cases to federal court was because a majority of the judges in the superior court backed off due to their personal conflicts with the church. "At some point, you know, they're going to have to create a judge," he said.

Attorney Lujan has until June 2nd to prove to The District court it has jurisdiction over his cases. Meanwhile Hawaii attorney Wayson Wong made his first appearance as counsel for Anderson but declined to provide comment to the press. Almost 60 cases of clergy sex abuse have been filed in the local and federal courts on Guam - that number is expected to climb with Attorney Lujan confirms he'll be filing 15 more in the near future.