$3.6 million verdict in priest trial
Catholic Church owes $12 million in damages
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Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano, flanked by lawyers Kaveh Shahi (left) and Thomas McCormick, reacts to Wednesday’s verdict. Burlington Free Press |
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By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald - Published: December 18, 2008
BURLINGTON — In a potentially bankrupting slam to the state's largest religious denomination, a jury ruled Wednesday that Vermont's Catholic Church should pay nearly $3.6 million for negligence in hiring and supervising a pedophile priest.
A panel of five men and seven women deliberated for 13 hours over two days before finding the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese liable in a Chittenden Superior Court lawsuit regarding the former Rev. Edward Paquette, who worked in Rutland in 1972, Montpelier in 1974 and Burlington in 1976.
The jury awarded David Navari, a 43-year-old Burlington native, $192,500 in compensatory damages and $3.4 million in punitive damages for civil claims that the diocese failed to protect him from Paquette. In his lawsuit, Navari said the priest fondled him on two occasions in 1977 when he was an 11-year-old altar boy at Burlington's Christ the King Church.
The verdict capped the third trial of the year involving the same retired clergyman and raised the amount of court penalties the diocese owes to more than $12 million.
In the first trial in May, a jury awarded plaintiff Perry Babel, a 40-year-old Burlington native, a record $8.7 million in compensatory and punitive damages for claims that Paquette fondled him 40 to 100 times three decades ago.
In a second trial in August, another jury deliberated for three days before saying it couldn't agree on a verdict in a similar lawsuit brought by 41-year-old Burlington native Thomas Murray, who alleged the priest sexually abused him 20 to 50 times in 1977 and 1978. The judge in that case declared a mistrial.
Having spent six years and at least $2 million to resolve nine other negligence lawsuits, the 118,000-member statewide diocese still faces 25 more cases involving eight retired or recently deceased pedophile priests. Of those pending, 19 involve Paquette.
Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano, who attended most of Navari's 11-day trial, appeared stunned by the verdict.
"I apologize to the plaintiff for the harm and the hurt that he endured," Matano said with tears in his eyes. "I deeply regret the decisions that were made which were proved to be wrong."
"Thirty-seven years ago today I was ordained a priest, and at that time I never expected to be dealing with these kinds of situations," said the bishop, his voice breaking. "I express my apologies to the people of this diocese. They have expectations I know I am not meeting. I am just trying to assess how I can bring this to a conclusion."
The church is almost certain to appeal the verdict to the state Supreme Court, its lawyers said, just as it has May's $8.7 million judgment.
The diocese doesn't have insurance for priest misconduct, although it says it held a comprehensive liability policy from 1972 to 1978. But the church can't find its copy of the policy — it's now suing the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. in hopes of settling the issue — while its former insurer argues it isn't liable for cases in which the holder is found negligent.
A judge already has placed a lien on the diocese's Burlington headquarters — a historic brick building on land overlooking Lake Champlain valued at $11,059,400 — to ensure May's $8.7 million verdict is paid if upheld in the appeal. Navari's lawyers are expected to request another writ of attachment on more diocesan property to cover the latest verdict.
Navari, an information-technology specialist in Takoma Park, Md., offered the diocese some possible consolation. After the verdict, he said he'd place his court award in a trust "to help needy parents pay for Catholic educations in the Burlington area" if the Vermont church defrocks all priests "credibly accused of child molestation," terminates their retirement benefits and posts their names and photos on its Web site.
Paquette, now 80 and retired in Massachusetts, is one of several retired clergymen who have been dismissed by the diocese after abuse allegations but not stripped of their title as priest.
Church officials were said to be willing to speak with Navari about his offer. But one of the plaintiff's lawyers, Jerome O'Neill, said the diocese hadn't agreed to similar calls by other clients.
Before the start of jury deliberations Tuesday, Navari's lawyers reiterated that church records showed the diocese had transferred Paquette to the plaintiff's Burlington parish without telling anyone it knew the priest had molested boys first in Massachusetts, then in Indiana and the Vermont cities of Rutland and Montpelier.
"Why did they allow this to go on for so long?" lawyer John Evers said in his closing arguments.
After his abuse, Navari grew angry, anxious and afraid, lost interest in religion and, in later years, binge-drank and suffered from insomnia and clinical depression, Evers said.
"We want justice. We want accountability. We want a statement that the diocese is responsible."
In response, the diocese didn't dispute the abuse allegations but argued that it wasn't liable, in part because it was following since-debunked advice of mental health professionals who at one point hoped Paquette could be treated through 11 sessions of electric shock therapy.
"An 11-year-old boy should never be molested, particularly by a priest," church counsel Thomas McCormick said in his closing arguments. "But when the decision was made to take Father Paquette in 1972 — that was 36 years ago — psychologists and psychiatrists thought it could be cured."
McCormick questioned how a jury could assess the diocese's actions of the 1970s when its leader at the time, Vermont Catholic Bishop John Marshall, died in 1994.
"Paquette's not here, Bishop Marshall is dead," the church lawyer said. "Documents don't tell you the whole story. We can look back and say (the diocese) made a mistake, but there's no evidence they acted with bad motive or bad spirit or wrong intention."
McCormick, saying "I don't mean to minimize what he went through," had asked the jury to limit any damages to the plaintiff to no more than $15,000 for a year of therapy.
"Numbers can get huge," the church lawyer said. "Compensate him fairly if you choose, but not wildly. Don't punish the diocese today for the decisions made yesterday."
The jury made its decision Wednesday after requesting a review of taped testimony by Matano. In a 75-minute statement, the bishop acknowledged that the diocese would have been irresponsible to hire a teacher with Paquette's record of abuse. But Matano wouldn't say that the church's hiring of the priest was reckless.
"The seriousness is the same — the crime is the same," the bishop said in a court transcript. "The complexity comes with the fact that it is someone bound by the sacrament of orders. It's the same thing with marriage."
Matano, in his testimony, said that a bishop and priest shared a special bond.
"I don't in any way want to imply that we are above the law, but still, the relationship the bishop has with that priest is a bond created by the sacrament. So how you effectively deal with it is very complex."
Navari and the diocese had tried to settle the case out of court but couldn't agree to a financial figure.
Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.
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