GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News August 10, 2016
The Archdiocese of Agana has retained the law offices of Cunliffe & Cook to represent it in a $2 million libel and slander lawsuit filed by former altar boys who said the church defamed them after they publicly accused Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron of sexually assaulting them in the 1970s.
Cunliffe & Cook, however, does not represent Apuron. It has been retained as counsel for the Archdiocese of Agana, as administered by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai. Cunliffe & Cook asked for, and was granted, an extension to file a response to the amended libel and slander complaint, from Aug. 11 to Sept. 11.
Apuron, who has been temporarily stripped by the Vatican of his administrative authority over the local church, is being represented in the lawsuit by the Law Office of Jacqueline T. Terlaje, officials with the law firm stated Wednesday.
The Vatican sent Hon to Guam in early June to temporarily administer the local Catholic church while allegations of sex abuse against Apuron are investigated.
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