KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
08/14/2014
The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese must pay the $1.1 million ordered by an arbitrator last spring for violating the terms of a 2008 settlement with priest sexual abuse victims, a judge has ruled.
Calling the award a “scathing indictment of the defendant,” Jackson County Circuit Judge Bryan Round said in his ruling that “there can be no doubt that the Diocese, through its leadership and higher level personnel, failed in numerous respects to abide by the terms of the non-monetary commitments” of the 2008 agreement.
Round issued the ruling late Wednesday, three weeks after hearing arguments from both sides in the case. The plaintiffs asked him to confirm the arbitrator’s order, while the diocese argued that the order be vacated.
“The order is once again an indictment of the way the diocese has handled issues of childhood sexual abuse,” said Rebecca Randles, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “We are so proud and so honored to stand side by side with these men and women who have done so much to try to protect children from the kind of abuse they experienced.”
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