Second lawsuit settled against disgraced order Legion of Christ is settled

RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

Published: February 02, 2015

BY JOHN HILL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
jhill@providencejournal.com

PROVIDENCE — A second Rhode Island lawsuit that accused the disgraced Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ of improperly influencing a well-off elderly person’s donations has been settled out of court, according to court documents.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux approved a motion dismissing Paul Chu’s suit against the Legion of Christ.

John J. Flanagan, who represented Chu, said he could not comment beyond saying the case was settled “to the satisfaction of the parties.”

The suit involved the estate of James Boa-Teh Chu, a former Brown University mechanical engineering professor who died in 2009 at the age of 85. He had been in declining physical and mental health for several years.

The elder Chu was born in China in 1924. He had converted to Catholicism as a young man and donated generously to Catholic charities throughout his life. In his will he had named the Legion of Christ the beneficiary of several annuities worth between $1 million and $2 million, according to court documents.

As Chu’s son and executor of his estate, Paul Chu challenged that bequest, claiming the Legion abused its role as his father’s spiritual adviser and used undue influence on him in his last years.

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