Apuron Objects, in Part, to Judge's Order in Mediation Talks

By Haidee V Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
October 27, 2017

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/10/27/apuron-objects-part-judges-order-mediation-talks/805858001/

Archbishop Anthony Apuron

Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron has asked U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood that he not be required to participate in potential settlement talks that do not involve the four cases filed against him.

The chief judge ordered Apuron to participate in mediation talks to try to settle more than 140 clergy sex abuse lawsuits. Most of the lawsuits are against former Guam priest Louis Brouillard.

Apuron is objecting, partly, to the chief judge's order, saying it's oppressive and costly to him.

Apuron's attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje, in an Oct. 27 filing, stated that the archbishop does not want to participate in mediating the more than 130 other cases that do not name him as a defendant.

The archbishop said 41 of those cases are also not subject to the jurisdiction of the federal court.

Apuron is accused of sexually abusing or raping four altar boys in Agat in the 1970s when he was a parish priest.

In his filing, the archbishop said the other parties discussed hiring a private mediator, paid for by the parties, as opposed to an available court mediator, at no cost to the parties.

A proposed agreement requires Apuron to bear equal portions of the mediator's fee.

"The imposition of such costs for cases not involving Archbishop Apuron create a substantial hardship upon a minority party, and will detrimentally affect his ability to continue to defend himself in both mediation and litigation proceedings," the archbishop's attorney stated.