BishopAccountability.org

Erie diocese flooded with lawsuits 2 years after report

By Ed Palattella
GoErie.com
August 16, 2020

https://www.goerie.com/news/20200816/erie-diocese-flooded-with-lawsuits-2-years-after-report

The Catholic Diocese of Erie, with administrative offices at St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie, is facing a number of lawsuits claiming cover-ups of clergy sexual abuse.
Photo by JACK HANRAHAN

Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico has led the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie since October 2012.
Photo by CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE

A total of 21 suits filed over claims of abuse cover-up as grand jury report, Superior Court ruling create options.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie is facing the potential of massive legal fallout two years after the release of the state grand jury report on clergy sex abuse statewide.

Prompted by the 884-page report’s allegations, 21 lawsuits had been filed in Erie County Court against the diocese, churches and related entities throughout the 13-county diocese as of the end of the day on Friday, according to an Erie Times-News’ review of the docket.

Statewide, Pennsylvania’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses had been hit with about 150 suits, according to the Associated Press.

As the Erie Times-News first reported in July, Friday was the deadline for plaintiffs to meet the two-year statute of limitations for filing fraud- and cover-up-related suits in connection with the release of the grand jury report. Attorney General Josh Shapiro issued the report on Aug. 14, 2018.

Whether the suits can proceed in Erie and elsewhere depends on how the state Supreme Court rules on a June 2019 state Superior Court decision that involved the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and a 2016 grand jury report about it.

Most of the filings against the Catholic Diocese of Erie are writs of summons rather than full-blown lawsuits, according to court records. Lawyers typically file writs to beat the deadline for the statute of limitations and to gather information to file a full-blown lawsuit later. Most of the plaintiffs use pseudonyms or initials because of their claims that they were sexually abused.

But based on interviews and the full-blown suits already filed, the plaintiffs are suing the diocese over a combination of claims: that they were sexually abused; that the diocese covered up the abuse; and that the plaintiffs did not learn about the extent of the abuse until the release of the grand jury report. The two-year statute of limitations comes into play because Pennsylvania law generally requires plaintiffs to sue within two years from the date they realized they were hurt.

Unlike other states, Pennsylvania has not rolled back the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to sue over their abuse in old cases. The Superior Court decision allows victims of child sexual abuse to sue the church over claims of a cover-up, arguing that they did not know that they had been harmed until the release of the grand jury report.

The state Supreme Court in March said it would review the decision and has yet schedule oral arguments in the appeal. The Catholic Diocese of Erie has joined other Roman Catholic dioceses in urging the justices to overturn the Superior Court’s decision in the case, Renee A. Rice v. the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and other defendants. Rice has allowed her name to be made public.

The ruling in the Rice case has given plaintiffs another legal option to sue over abuse. The option would not exist for many plaintiffs without the release of the grand jury report two years ago.

Shapiro called the report the most comprehensive of its kind nationwide in addressing the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal. The report alleged that 301 “predator priests,” including 41 in the Catholic Diocese of Erie, abused more than 1,000 minors dating to the 1940s.

“It was a reckoning, a bold promise that the law would hold big institutions accountable who stomped on, ignored and even abused everyday folks,” Shapiro, speaking about the overall effects of the grand jury report, told the Erie Times-News in an interview last week.

“To see individuals now being able to stand up to the Catholic Church and those who covered up the abuse and those who committed the abuse shows me that our work mattered and, most importantly, that these survivors are now being believed, as they should have been decades ago,” Shapiro said.

‘Scrambling’ to file

The state Supreme Court’s affirmation of the ruling in the Rice case would give abuse victims recourse in court despite the GOP-controlled state Senate’s refusal to create an immediate two-year window to allow child sexual abuse victims to sue in old cases. The GOP-controlled state House approved the legislation.

An affirmation of the ruling would also open up the Catholic Diocese of Erie and other dioceses to the possibility of enormous court judgments and settlements, plus the expense of paying large legal fees for defending the slew of cases. The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s insurance carriers are not covering the abuse claims.

“This is something the dioceses and the church created, and they and other religious entities are going to have to wait and see,” Rice’s lawyer, Richard Serbin, told the Erie Times-News last week.

Serbin, widely known for representing clergy abuse victims, filed one of the suits against the Catholic Diocese of Erie, and said he has filed at least a half dozen suits statewide based on the Rice case over the past two weeks.

“I’m scrambling,” he said.

The state Supreme Court’s affirmation of the Rice case is such a looming threat that the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg cited the case when the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection in February.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie declined to comment for this story, referring to its policy of not commenting on litigation. Bishop Lawrence Persico, the head of the Erie diocese since 2012, has said the sexual abuse crisis has strained the diocese’s finances, but it is not considering bankruptcy.

Financial ramifications

The Catholic Diocese of Erie has already spent millions of dollars on the clergy abuse crisis. The costs include paying lawyers to conduct the diocese’s investigation of abuse allegations, which the diocese made public with its list of those credibly accused of abuse.

The diocese as of December had paid about $6 million in claims to at least 50 victims or survivors through the diocese’s compensation fund for victims of sexual abuse.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie and other Roman Catholic dioceses statewide created the victims’ funds in response to the grand jury report, which recommended that state lawmakers immediately create the two-year window for victims to sue in old cases.

The dioceses opposed the recommendation and came up with funds to address victims’ claims but on the dioceses’ terms. Those who receive money from the funds must agree not to sue.

The General Assembly in the meantime passed legislation to start the process for amending the state constitution to create an two-year window to sue. That process will take years and is not guaranteed to end with a constitutional change.

As they wait on Harrisburg, the plaintiffs sued under the Rice case.

Lawyers involved in the suits against the Catholic Diocese of Erie said their clients missed the August 2019 deadline for filing claims with the Erie diocese’s fund; that the fund rejected their clients’ claims; or that the fund offered their clients too little.

In terms of his clients, Serbin said the funds “offered a pittance and then they came to me. They didn’t see any sense of justice in what was offered them.”

Contact: epalattella@timesnews.com




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