AUSTRALIA
The Age
Jane Lee
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER FOR THE AGE
The Catholic Church continues to rely on the legal argument that it is incapable of being sued in negotiations with alleged child abuse victims, a day after Cardinal George Pell acknowledged they should be able to sue the church, a lawyer says.
Melbourne lawyer Dr Vivian Waller said she had acted on behalf of victims in two pre-arranged settlement discussions with lawyers for two Catholic orders on Tuesday.
She said the lawyers indicated, in relation to three separate victims’ abuse claims, that they may still rely on a NSW Court of Appeal decision, which is often called the Ellis defence. The court held in 2007 that the church’s property trust – its only legal entity – could not be held liable for the actions of priests.
”They’ve said they are not making a decision to abandon the Ellis defence,” Dr Waller said.
She put to them Cardinal Pell’s statement at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse on Monday. The statement, read by senior counsel Gail Furness, said that in Cardinal Pell’s view, ”the church in Australia should be able to be sued in cases of this kind”. This marked a dramatic departure from Cardinal Pell’s previous approach to victims who pursued legal action against the church.
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