BishopAccountability.org
	Abuse Lawyer Seeks Lien on Church Property 10 Cases Brought against Vt. Diocese Associated Press, carried in Boston Globe [Burlington VT] August 1, 2005 BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A lawyer representing 10 new clients who say they were sexually abused by priests wants the court to place liens on $30 million worth of church property. Jerome O'Neill, a former federal prosecutor, settled two cases with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington last year. Those cases ended with the diocese agreeing to cash payments of $150,000 and $120,000. This time O'Neill is asking the court for a legal claim to diocesan buildings and land in case the diocese can't come up with cash. "We expect to seek attachments in the $2.5 million range in all of the cases we have filed, for a total of around $30 million," O'Neill said. If successful, O'Neill's clients would have a claim on church holdings if the diocese couldn't pay court judgments. "We believe the information we have is sufficiently compelling that seven-figure verdicts are quite likely," O'Neill said. "We want to make sure that there are sufficient assets available if we are successful in our actions. The diocese doesn't have insurance, but it has $65 million of appraised property in the city of Burlington alone." The latest lawsuits come three years after state Attorney General William Sorrell launched an investigation against almost a dozen Catholic priests and 30 former clergymen. No one was criminally charged because the claims were too old to prosecute under the state's statutes of limitations. Accusers, however, can press charges through civil lawsuits. The diocese has spent almost $400,000 in the past two years to settle at least four lawsuits out of court. Church leaders stress that they aren't paying settlements with regular collection money or the diocesan Bishop's Fund but instead from a separate account designed for unforeseen circumstances. "The position of the diocese remains the same: to evaluate the appropriateness of compensation to those who have been harmed when the good faith of their claim is ascertained," said the diocese's lawyer, David Cleary of Rutland. "We're attempting to determine the merits of each individual claim." In the meantime, the diocese is fighting O'Neill's request for liens. Six of the 10 latest cases involve Edward Paquette, a former priest in Burlington, Montpelier, and Rutland from 1972 to 1978. O'Neill has also filed one case each against former priests James Dunn and George Paulin, 62, and two against Alfred Willis, 61.