CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer

Updated 11:38 p.m., Monday, January 9, 2012

BRIDGEPORT — A federal judge set several deadlines and is mulling how to try the 20 federal lawsuits each seeking $20 million in damages brought by the alleged sexual abuse victims of Douglas Perlitz in Haiti.

The 20 cases, 17 of which were just filed last week, are in the process of being reassigned to U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall.

In meeting with the six plaintiff lawyers and 11 defense lawyers Monday, Hall mulled whether to try all the cases at once, separating the liability phase from the damage phases, or to take one of the cases to finish — as a test case.

Additionally, she asked U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkle, who mediated settlements in the Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport sex abuse cases, to conduct preliminary discussions with the lawyers.