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Thread ID: 17836 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-04-18
2005-04-18 10:31 | User Profile
Diocese verdict leaves uncertainty
Thatcher trial outcome may affect talks for mass settlement of civil lawsuits
| By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER |
| It's not exactly clear who the winner was last week when an Alameda County jury awarded $1.93 million to two brothers molested by an Antioch priest 25 years ago. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland could end up paying Bob and Tom Thatcher more than $1.5 million of that amount, but that's far less than the $27 million the brothers' attorney had requested. In fact, the compensatory damages awarded to Tom Thatcher amount to less than even the diocese's attorney had suggested. The brothers say they weren't in it for the money but to create a legal record of the diocese's negligence in shuffling pedophile priests from parish to parish rather than preventing them from preying again. They also note that the $875,000 in punitive damages awarded to Bob Thatcher constitutes an almost unprecedented instance of an entire California diocese being punished as institutionally responsible for sexual abuse. But it's hard to say how thetrial and verdict will affect negotiations for a mass settlement of dozens of other similar civil lawsuits against the Oakland Diocese. Perhaps it will give other plaintiffs courage to hold out for more, knowing the diocese already has been held to account once. Or, with a record already established and relatively modest monetary returns in this trial, other plaintiffs might decide it's not worth the investment of time and emotion to go to trials of their own. "All of us, both sides of the case, are singing almost the same song, that it's not really an issue of money," said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, the diocese's spokesman, adding that the diocese joins the Thatchers in hoping the case will encourage other victims to come forward and report their abuse. "The ongoing work we need to do is find that healing reconciliation with Bob and Tom and everyone who's been abused by clergy, while making things safer for the future," he said. "That's what we need to be more concerned about than the dollar figures." On the other hand, Wiesner said the diocese has not yet decided whether it will appeal the $875,000 in punitive damages awarded to Bob Thatcher. Other than those damages, diocese officials are |
"grateful for the work that the jury did," he said. "It's not an enviable position ââ¬â how do you determine dollar figures for the kind of thing Bob and Tom have survived?"
Mary Grant, western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the Thatchers' trial exposed not only past abuses and official coverups, but also the church's ongoing reticence to fully own up to what happened. "And we know that unless the truth is completely exposed, kids are still at risk."
"It just seems to me that the bishops are still to this day trying to minimize the effects of their crimes, whether they're in court or whether they're promising statements of transparency and openness," she said ââ¬â promises which all too often prove empty.
"Hopefully, the message that's being sent to bishops is that the public and the jury aren't buying their relentless public relations campaign... to try to minimize what the victims have suffered."
Bob and Tom Thatcher were about 10 and 8 respectively when they were sexually abused by the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, their pastor at Antioch's St. Ignatius parish.
The jury, following a three-week trial and less than a day of deliberations, on Wednesday awarded $875,000 in punitive damages to Bob Thatcher; another $875,000 in compensatory damages to Bob Thatcher; and $180,000 to Tom Thatcher.
But jurors decided that the diocese was responsible for 60 percent of the harm done to the brothers, while Ponciroli bore the rest of the responsibility; thus, the diocese is responsible for paying Bob Thatcher $525,000 and Tom Thatcher $108,000 in compensatory damages. Ponciroli is retired and living in Florida but wasn't a party to this lawsuit and so will not pay any damages. [url="http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_2666580"]http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_2666580[/url]