WOODLAND PARK (NJ)
North Jersey Record
February 11, 2019
By Deena Yellin
Victims of clergy abuse from any of New Jersey’s five Roman Catholic dioceses will be able to seek compensation from a newly launched Independent Victim Compensation Program, the program’s administrators announced Monday.
The administrators, Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros, are noted victims’ compensation experts who have operated similar programs for dioceses in other states, as well as the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
“The program provides victims with an attractive alternative to litigation, providing victims a speedy and transparent process to resolve their claims with a significantly lower level of proof and corroboration than required in a court of law,” Feinberg and Biros said in a joint statement.
The announcement of the program drew mixed reactions Monday from advocates for victims of clergy abuse.
“If the compensation fund helps a clergy sexual abuse victim try to heal, then the victim should enter into the fund process. But if a victim wants to try to gain full transparency through a legal action, then the victim should wait to determine if the statute of limitations will be amended,” said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented more than 50 clergy abuse victims in New Jersey.
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