BishopAccountability.org
	Judge Allows Church Official to Delay Deposition Archbishop William J. Levada Can Postpone Questioning by Lawyers for Priest Sex-Abuse Plaintiffs until January By Steve Woodward The Oregonian [Portland OR] July 28, 2005 The judge in the Archdiocese of Portland's bankruptcy has agreed to let former Portland Archbishop William J. Levada skip an August date to answer questions under oath about how the church handles child sexual-abuse allegations. In return, the newly named No. 3 official in the Roman Catholic Church must personally guarantee that he'll make himself available in January to undergo questioning by lawyers for priest sex-abuse plaintiffs in Oregon. In addition, he must agree not to claim diplomatic immunity as a high-ranking official of the Vatican. Levada has until Tuesday to respond. Otherwise, his deposition in Hayward, Calif., is expected to proceed as scheduled Aug. 12, five days before he resigns as Archbishop of San Francisco and moves to Rome. One plaintiff's attorney, William Barton, said in a Wednesday hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland that he opposed giving Levada an extension. "If anyone thinks he's going to be coming back later," he said, "they're very Pollyanna-ish." Barton was one of the attorneys who deposed Levada last year on behalf of three plaintiffs who allege molestation by the late Rev. Maurice Grammond. The archdiocese is a co-defendant in Barton's $135 million lawsuit, which was set to go to jury trial July 6 last year, the day the archdiocese declared bankruptcy, thus freezing that and dozens of other lawsuits. Earlier this year, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Elizabeth Perris authorized the attorneys for sex-abuse plaintiffs to question up to four people about the archdiocese's "patterns, practices and policies" regarding its handling of child sex-abuse allegations. Levada is one of those four. The Portland archdiocese has not objected to Levada's deposition. But it has argued against the deposition date, saying that it interferes with the mediations of nearly 70 sex-abuse claims. The mediations start Aug. 8. "I'm frustrated, and my clients are concerned because the focus ought to be on this mediation," Thomas V. Dulcich, one of the archdiocese's attorneys, told Perris. Levada's sudden elevation in May to a top Vatican post -- which oversees church doctrine and discipline -- after the death of Pope John Paul II prompted the plaintiffs to seek his testimony before he left the country. The archdiocese also argued against opening up the questioning to Levada's experience as one of the Catholic church's leading authorities on child sex-abuse policies. Instead, Dulcich suggested that the questioning be limited to the Portland archdiocese's policies and only during the period from 1986 through 1995, when Levada was Archbishop of Portland. Similarly, during last year's deposition of Levada, Dulcich repeatedly advised the archbishop not to answer questions that weren't strictly related to his years in Portland or to "internal church governance," such as the working relationship between a bishop and a priest. Perris gave Dulcich until Monday to find evidence to support his contention that internal church governance is a legal ground for Levada not to answer questions. She also gave plaintiffs attorney Erin K. Olson until today to give Dulcich a list of specific areas about which she and other lawyers want to quiz Levada.