Source:
Burlington Free PressA Chittenden County judge has ordered that 20 pending clerical-sexual-abuse lawsuits be handled in an unprecedented joint trial beginning Sept. 20 and lasting through the end of November.
The trial would take place if ongoing mediation discussions fail to resolve the cases. Judge Helen Toor, in her joint-trial order, extended the deadline for mediation to May 31.
The 20 cases involve claims by former altar boys who say they were molested by the Rev. Edward Paquette in the late 1970s. Fifteen of the 20 focus on incidents at Christ the King Church in Burlington; the other five target conduct by Paquette when he was at parishes in Rutland and Montpelier.
The 20 plaintiffs are suing the state’s Roman Catholic diocese for damages on grounds it hired and continued to employ Paquette knowing he was a child molester. Paquette, who is retired and living in Westfield, Mass., is not a defendant.
The diocese does not dispute the abuse occurred, but in four trials involving claims by alleged Paquette victims, church attorneys have argued the diocese relied at the time on the advice of church psychologists who said Paquette’s sexual deviancy had been corrected.
Read more:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100421/NEWS02/100421001/Judge-orders-joint-trial-for-20-Paquette-sexual-abuse-cases
blame it on the psychologists!
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