TRENTON (NJ)
nj.com [New Jersey]
February 16, 2024
By Ted Sherman
The victim is unnamed, identified only as Doe 68.
Raised in a devout Roman Catholic family and a parishioner of the Church of St. Gregory the Great in Hamilton Square within the Diocese of Trenton, he — or she — was allegedly sexually abused by a priest more than 50 years ago. That abuse began at the age of 8 until “Doe 68″ was 11-years-old, according to a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court under a two-year window that extended the amount of time victims of sexual abuse had to sue.
The priest is now deceased. The complaint, one of hundreds filed against the diocese, remains in litigation more than two years after it was filed. And last week, the insurance carrier that provided liability coverage for the diocese went to federal court saying it had made repeated requests for the information necessary to analyze the diocese’s requests for coverage and that the diocese refused to provide the information requested.
The insurance carrier argues that abuse cases were not “accidents,” but rather conduct tolerated or hidden for decades by the Church. The company is seeking a ruling from the court that it had no obligation to cover the diocese or any individual parishes or schools for any claims that were not covered accidents or where “the diocese failed to comply with the terms of the relevant policies.”
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Trenton, comprised of Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties with a Catholic population of 830,000, did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment. But advocates and lawyers representing Doe 68 and others who have filed suit against the diocese believe Century Indemnity Co., a unit of Chubb Insurance that contains legacy liabilities, is essentially seeking to evade paying out what could be millions in claims.
“It’s appalling,” said David Catalfamo executive director of the Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation, a Washington-based advocacy group of survivors of child abuse, their representatives, and others that was formed in the past few months to put a spotlight on the issue. “Folks who have come forward, bared their souls, and we come to this,” he said.
According to Catalfamo, the issue goes well beyond the Diocese of Trenton. A similar suit was filed last year against the Archdiocese of New York, which is facing some 1,500 lawsuits filed under the New York Child Victims Act— a claims window similar to one that opened in New Jersey that gave childhood survivors of abuse a second chance to bring litigation.
In the New York action, Century and other Chubb-affiliated insurers filed a suit seeking to escape from having to cover the Church in most of the claims against it.
“As is the case in Trenton, the insurance policies in New York cover accidents, not conduct that was tolerated or hidden,” Century said in a statement. “The Archdiocese of New York is trying to shift financial responsibility for claims of sexual abuse to insurers, while simultaneously refusing to provide the information needed to assess whether coverage is proper.”
By shielding assets from plaintiffs and hiding that information from insurers, it said it was “the Archdiocese and the Archdiocese alone that is preventing New York victims from being properly compensated.”
A New York Supreme Court justice in December dismissed the case.
“Here the Chubb Insurers simply do not have a cause of action,” said Justice Suzanne J. Adams. “The plain language of the insurance policies at issue covers bodily injury and negligence.” She found the complaint set forth no facts that would support the declaratory judgment that the insurers sought.
Century is now appealing.
“The order of dismissal should be reversed,” it wrote in that appeal. “This dispute arises from thousands of lawsuits seeking to hold (the Archdiocese of New York) liable for child sexual abuse perpetrated by its employees.”
But while the archdiocese demands that the Chubb Insurers cover the diocese for any liability it might sustain for that misconduct, it maintained that under the terms of the relevant policies, that the Chubb insurers had no duty to cover the archdiocese for any damages that the Church “expected or intended” or that did “not involve an accident.”.
Advocates, meanwhile, worry that such actions may have become an industry strategy.
Catalfamo said the Child Victims Act was passed with the promise of giving survivors justice. Yet after surviving abuse as kids, coming forward and reliving it again, he said the prospect of insurers walking away from their contracted liability obligations means they could well end up getting pennies as unsecured creditors when dioceses unable to pay those claims declare bankruptcy.
That was the case in Camden, where the Diocese of Camden declared bankruptcy in 2020 as it struggled with mounting debt after a flood of abuse victims sought recompense under the New Jersey Independent Victims Compensation Program.
A $87.5 million settlement reached with more than 300 childhood victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy in the Camden Diocese — in what some called one of the largest cash payments of its kind — was put on hold last year after a federal bankruptcy judge said that the proposal could put insurers on the hook for inflated or invalid claims.
“They’re playing the actuarial table because they know a lot of these survivors are older and they will die. It’s an industry strategy across the country,” Catalfamo said.
Attorney Gregory Gianforcaro of Phillipsburg represents “Doe 68″ with co-counsel Jeff Anderson & Associates of Minneapolis. The two have filed approximately 50 cases against the Diocese of Trenton since New Jersey extended the statute of limitations that extended the amount of time victims of sexual abuse had to sue. He challenged the arguments made by Century.
“We’re not suing the Diocese of Trenton because of the priests’ abuse. We’re suing the Trenton diocese because of their negligence in training and negligence of supervision, which permitted or allowed those priests to abuse our clients,” Gianforcaro said.