KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
A judge has ordered the local Catholic diocese into arbitration to determine whether it violated a 2008 settlement with those who alleged they had been abused by priests.
Lawyers representing 42 of the 47 plaintiffs who settled their claims for $10 million demanded arbitration last year, alleging that the diocese had failed to live up to its commitments in its handling of two priests who had been accused of sexual misconduct.
One of those priests, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, is scheduled for trial in August on federal child pornography charges. The other priest, the Rev. Michael Tierney, faces civil lawsuits alleging that he abused the plaintiffs decades ago.
Ratigan has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Tierney has denied any wrongdoing.
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