Judge Upholds Arbitration Award Involving the Diocese of Kansas City-st. Joseph

Jeff Anderson & Associates
August 14, 2014

http://www.andersonadvocates.com/Files/1205/pdf

[full text]

Circuit Court Judge Bryan E. Round has affirmed in its entirety an arbiter's

award of more than $1.1 million against the Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph. The judge also awarded

interest on the judgment.

The case was an unprecedented breach of contract action brought by Jeff Anderson & Associates of St.

Paul, MN and others against the Diocese for failing to report an abusive priest, Shawn Ratigan, when it

became known that he was creating child pornography using children of the Diocese. Bishop Robert Finn

was criminally convicted and given probation for his failure to report.

The contract being enforced was a 2008 settlement between the Diocese and 47 plaintiffs who were

themselves abused by priests or other agents of the Diocese. Those victims enforced the commitments

the Diocese had agreed to in resolving their claims. "The Diocese paid less in damages for agreeing to

the non-economic terms demanded by the Plaintiffs. When the Diocese breached the non-economic

commitments, it effectively received the benefits without paying for it," the judge wrote.

The commitments to protect children in the Diocese remain in place and the Plaintiffs remain able to

hold the Diocese accountable for following them in the future.