HAWAII
Hawaii News Now
By Keoki Kerr
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) –
It will cost roughly $20 million to settle lawsuits brought by 63 people — mostly men — who claim Catholic priests and teachers in Hawaii molested them decades ago, sources told Hawaii News Now.
And First Insurance of Hawaii, which provided liability insurance to both the Catholic Church and Damien Memorial School for decades, has refused to fund any settlements in 40 lawsuits that went to mediation last fall and early this year, according to a lawsuit filed by the church and the school.
In its lawsuit, the Catholic Church said it paid First Insurance of Hawaii for liability insurance from 1951 to 1987, but during the last year and a half of negotiations, it’s been unable to get First Insurance to help pay the bill for settlements and legal fees.
The church’s lawsuit, filed January 14, claimed First Insurance “has delayed, obfuscated, and misled its policyholder, consistently putting its interests ahead of the interests (of the church)”
The church said with no help paying the big bill, it has been forced “to consider liquidating assets in order to meet its settlement obligations. The prospect of additional unreimbursed defense and settlement costs puts funding for the ministry and services” provided by the church “in serious jeopardy.”
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