FALL RIVER (MA)
South Coast Today
By Curt Brown
cbrown@s-t.com
May 14, 2014
FALL RIVER — The Fall River Diocese and the lawyer for two men now suing it and its former bishop over sexual abuse charges against a priest failed to reach agreement during mediation last year, the parties said Tuesday.
Diocesan spokesman John E. Kearns Jr. said the two sides had been in mediation for a period of time until Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian pulled the plug on the discussions in May.
“We wanted to resolve it through mediation and that process was stopped,” Kearns said at a press conference outside his office.
Garabedian, in a telephone interview, called Kearns’ comments “inaccurate and self-serving.”
He said he did not end the talks, they were mutually terminated. “The offer and settlement made by the diocese was unreasonable. We had reached a stalemate,” he said.”>the lawsuit]
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