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Former priest Andrew San Agustin says his counterclaim is mainly to deny sex abuse allegation
By Haidee V. Eugenio
[with video] Former priest Andrew San Agustin said he's not seeking $5 million in filing a counter-claim, but primarily wanted to deny a woman's allegation he sexually abused her when she was a child. San Agustin, who is representing himself in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit, also asked the federal court to consider providing him with free legal assistance as the case moves on because he's financially challenged. The former priest said in the meantime, he continues to explore a fundraising program to be able to afford an attorney's retainer fee and hourly fees, if he's compelled to have one. "While defendant agrees with the portrayal of him as standing up for his conviction (and not just lying down playing dead in the face of the accusations of plaintiff), it is not quite accurate to portray him as 'fighting back' ... with a vindictive $5 million countersuit," San Agustin said in a March 28 filing with the U.S. District Court of Guam. San Agustin's counter-claim stated he's also been harmed by the accusations against him and asked the court to award damages for pain and suffering in an amount the court may reasonably determine. B.T. seeks $5M in minimum damagesHis accuser, identified in court documents only as B.T., seeks $5 million in minimum damages. B.T., a resident of Saipan, alleged in her April 2017 lawsuit that San Agustin sexually abused her when she was vacationing on Guam in 1963. Through attorney Delia Lujan Wolff, B.T. asked the court to dismiss San Agustin's counter-claim, saying her complaint for child sexual abuse is protected under the Guam Citizen Participation in Government Act. It's a law that discourages defendants from intimidating or threatening their accusers using financial liability or litigation costs, among other things. San Agustin asked court to dismiss motionThe former priest, now known as Joe R. San Agustin, asked the court to dismiss B.T.'s March 14 motion to dismiss San Agustin's counter-claim. San Agustin said it's accurate to state he, as a defendant, was seeking equal consideration of his entitlement for compensation under the law for the pain and suffering he and his family continue to experience, similar to plaintiff's claim of entitlement for compensation for her own sufferings. He said his request to dismiss B.T.'s motion to dismiss is neither a frivolous nor an unreasonable request, and asks that the court grant it. San Agustin, who voluntarily left the priesthood, is one of the named defendants in some 160 Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Agana and others associated with the Catholic Church. The courts have stayed the cases in light of the ongoing mediation that the parties are pursuing.
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