A Delaware jury has awarded $30 million dollars in damages to a victim of priest abuse. The Associated Press reports the verdict is the largest ever clergy abuse settlement as well as the first settlement where the jury has held an individual parish liable. Traditionally, the governing diocese is the defendant in all suits.
“ [The Vai case] is far and away the largest single verdict in any clergy sex abuse case for compensatory damages,” said Jeff Anderson, an St. Paul-based attorney who has represented more than 2,000 alleged victims. “This would be a new and unprecedented outcome that I have no doubt is much needed and well-deserved and hard fought.”
The plaintiff, John Vai , testified that he was molested more than 100 times between 1966-1968 by Fr. Francis Deluca, his former priest at St. Elizabeth’s parish in Wilmington, Delaware (O’Sullivan.) Vai was a 13 year-old altar boy when the abuse started. DeLuca was defroked in 2008 after being convicted of repeatedly molesting his 18-year-old grandnephew.
Unique to this case is the fact that the jury held St. Elizabeth’s parish liable for $3M dollars in damages. The motivation for the unprecedented move stemmed in part from the negligence of parish officials that allowed the abuse to continue.
Vai alleged that Monsignor Thomas Cini –then a young parish priest at St. Elizabeth’s—knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it. Monsignor Cini—now second-in-command of the Wilmington diocese—testified that he knew nothing about the abuse. Vai claimed the verdict proved Cini wrong, and called for him to be sent to a monastery to “repent for his sins against the dozens of survivors of DeLuca who he did not protect.”
The other part of the liability equation concerns where the award is going to come from. The Wilmington Diocese is facing more than 100 priest abuse lawsuits and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. As for DeLuca, he faces a slew of lawsuits and has little money to pay them off with (Associated Press.)
Vai’s attorney, Thomas Neuberger, said that he does not expect to collect damages from DeLuca, but that St. Elizabeth’s has ample money to pay the award. The jury reconvenes Monday to further deliberate punitive damages for DeLuca and St. Elizabeth’s, and there is speculation that the parish’s total could rise.
David Clohessy, who heads the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, thinks that parish liability is necessary to send a strong message to those members of the Church who sit idly by while the sinister abuse occurs.
“This jury’s saying no, it doesn’t matter if your title is bishop or pastor. If you knowing put kids and keep kid’s in harm’s way, there’s a steep price to be paid,” Clohessy said. (Associated Press.)
However, Bishop Francis Malooly of the Wilmington Diocese expressed disappointment in the jury’s decision to go after the church.
“It is unfortunate that the parish community of St. Elizabeth’s is being made to pay for the criminal and sinful acts of someone who was assigned by the diocesan bishop at the time to be one of their priests,” said Malooly (Associated Press.)
For his part, Vai claims that the verdict moves in the right direction for “render[ing] justice to all survivors of childhood sex abuse… The cover-up continues and to this very day churches refuse to accept responsibility for their actions” (ibid)
In the past decade, the Catholic Church has been rocked by sex abuse scandals involving their priests. Just recently, the Pope acknowledged the problem and urged the faithful to pray for their parish leaders. Still, the allegations are growing as many who were formerly abused are gaining the courage to speak out about their problem.
It you or someone you love has been a victim of sexual abuse, please know that is never your fault, that there is always help available, and that it is necessary to confront the issue for your own sake and for the sake of others. Please do not remain silent about this abuse.
If you choose to pursue legal recourse, the attorneys at Dolan Legal are here to help you.
–Steven Flores