Catholic Diocese Of Pittsburgh Abuse Settlement Statement

[tee_eff_em]

Catholic Diocese Of Pittsburgh Abuse Settlement Statement

POSTED: 11:25 am EDT September 17, 2007

PITTSBURGH – A conciliatory resolution of 32 civil lawsuits involving claims of abuse or injury by priests has been jointly announced by the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the plaintiffs’ attorneys. The plaintiffs have withdrawn their lawsuits.

In a series of decisions, courts in Pennsylvania have held that the statute of limitations prevents the bringing of suits in these cases, because the alleged abuses happened long before the cases were filed.

Full story

After settlements exceeding $1 million per claimant in other dioceses recently, it is refreshing to see a resolution in this range – And given to claimants with no legal recourse at that.

Some other stories do note the lawyers wish they could have gotten more “for their clients” – yeah, right.

tee

 

[rpp]

I do not know the particulars of the cases or who the bishop was when the alleged abuse took place, to see a comment like the one below from an opposing attorney seems to say quite a bit for the Ordinary and the leadership of the Pittsburgh Diocese.

The resolution was welcomed by Attorney Perer. “Often institutions brush these sorts of things under the rug as soon as possible. It was important and admirable for the Diocese to step forward and offer these people help and some form of compensation,” said Perer, joining in the announcement with attorney Richard Serbin, co-counsel who represents similar clients in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

“Not only has the Diocese shown care and respect for these people, it has also provided through the policies and practices it has in place that this sort of thing will not happen again,” Perer said.

May God bless faithful and honorable bishops.

 

[Nohome]

May God bless faithful and honorable bishops.

an smite those who are not!

Nohome

 

[Elric]

Thank God that some people in positions of authority have some common sense.

If only something like this could have been done from the start.

 

[KathleenElsie]

The fact is that commonsense took place here, not the love of money. The Church and the victims worked together for a fair ending to the situation.

Pittsburgh is not a very liberal area and is not known for HUGE money settlements. The attys said they had wanted more for their clients, but then they are attys.