Most lawsuits against Catholic Archdioceses and pedophile priests never go to trial—the church is all too eager to settle and keep the details (what the priests did, the lengths Catholic leaders went to to protect them) out of public.

But the Seattle Archdiocese is going to trial. From the Seattle Times:

O’Donnell, 66, has been accused in numerous lawsuits of molesting altar boys, students and Boy Scouts decades ago. He’s admitted to molesting at least 30 boys, and the claims against him — about 60 — played a large part in the Spokane Diocese’s bankruptcy filing five years ago.

But the trial is not about whether O’Donnell is innocent or guilty.

It’s about whether and when the Seattle Archdiocese knew about O’Donnell’s history, and whether the archdiocese is liable for his actions when he served at Seattle’s St. Paul Church from 1976 to 1978.

(O’Donnell is still living, by the way, but not prosecutable because the statute of limitations has passed.)

One question the Times story doesn’t answer—what’s different about this case that it’s going to trial?

So I called Michael Patterson, the lawyer for the Archdiocese, and got an exercise in obliquity. He said:

“I have to be careful what I say… the parties were unable to arrive at an agreement.”

Why not?

“Put it this way: We’d been able to settle other cases, but not able to settle this one.”

Why not?

[laughs nervously.] “I have to be really careful about what I say.”

Was it about money? About a non-disclosure agreement? What?

“Put it this way: you can use your imagination and your first speculation might be the one.”

He wouldn’t say any more. Seems like the plaintiffs might have asked for an impossible sum, just to finally push a Catholic sex-abuse case in front of a jury—but none of their attorneys were available for comment.

Brend an Kiley has worked as a child actor in New Orleans, as a member of the junior press corps at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and, for one happy April, as a bootlegger’s assistant in Nicaragua....

8 replies on “Finally Going to Trial”

  2. @1,

    It’s pretty disgusting that there ever was. Hello? Many kids are too afraid to come forward until they reach adulthood, especially if the molester is a relative.

  3. No kidding. Maybe there’s a statute of limitations on bringing a civil suit against someone? This isn’t a criminal trial, which frankly boggles my mind.

  4. Since always, Fnarf.
    In Washington, the SOL for torts (ie what this lawsuit is alleging) is 3 years, from the date the damage accrues. Washington law has allowed this to be interpreted as 3 years from the date the victim “discovers” or realizes that s/he has suffered some damage related to the sexual abuse. Likewise, where the victim has repressed the memory of abuse, s/he will have three years from “discovery” or recovering the memory to sue.

    AFAIK, only murder has no SOL.

  5. @2, for minors, the SOL time period doesn’t begin to “run” until the kid reaches majority, so 18+3= 21 years old.

  6. @5,

    Only three years after the victim is no longer under the legal “protection” of the molester? Still not good enough.

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