*****
By Kay Ebeling
Coming through security at Superior Court Wednesday I kept my shoes on and when the beeper went off I stood, raised my arm, said, “It’s just the pin and the shoes.” No panic attack, (see September 21 post) no removing every possible metalic thing to avoid the baton, although I did get good advice from “Anonymous Reader” who suggested
“If you are having anxiety, please ask Bishop Tod Brown to send you to Southdown up in Canada with Monsignor Urell!”
Arrive at court, clerk is in midst of taping a newly printed version of calendar outside the door, as plaintiff’s Motions to Compel Depositions had iexplicably disappeared from the calendar (Deja Vu) then been penned back on as Number 12. Inside as we wait for the judge, a plaintiff attorney reads the tentative then nods to me, yes it was granted.
I watch Church Attorney Steve McFeely and my first urge is to write something nasty but he looks so vulnerable and defeated as he reads. Plaintiff Attorney Helen Zukin walks up to him and puts her face right in front of his as she speaks. McFeely is so crushed, deflated, looking into her face -- Helen has one of those striking faces that make you just stop and gaze, obviously a gift from God, and she uses all her assets. McFeely, very central casting for Irish Cop, nods and agrees to whatever it is Zukin is saying.
HEARING
JUDGE HALEY FROMHOLZ: 1st is regarding Father Schafer and Reina anything to add?
MCFEELY: There is. I’m troubled by the fact that neither plaintiffs nor court deal with any of the issues that were raised in the objections
In particular speculation. These men one born in 1947 are being asked about things that happened in 1947. Plaintiff’s council says it’s relevant, sure it’s relevant but it’s speculation.
(ME: At this point I twitch a little, but then smile. I’m trying to give this Church Attorney a chance, and he looks much more like my Uncle Pete [the old Irish cop he was] than that other church attorney from Hennigan’s office. His tone of voice is getting nasty but I’m trying to describe him still as down home, sort of. . . . )
MCFEELY: Maybe there wasn’t a policy or procedure in effect in 1947, and if there was, whether it’s relevant or not these men aren’t going to know that. They weren’t there. This line of questioning in appropriate and harassing.
JUDGE: Alright, Miss Zukin, re Relevant but too attenuating?
ZUKIN: The crux is notice. What they did or didn't do. We have testimony that a document was in this perpetrator’s file when he first came to the order.
Plus Father Schaffer has been there for many-many years in many capacities and both have held a variety of leadership roles
(ME: Hmm, they seem to switch roles a lot, haven’t we heard that before? Hmm.)
ZUKIN: They have knowledge of current and historical policies. They would know how things were done in the past or be able to direct us to who might know. It all goes to the crux of the case which is notice.
MCFEELY: If you want to know what the rules and procedures were, ask. She didn't. That's not what the objections are here. If they want to know about somebody who was there in 1947 ask it. We're here about the speculation they were asked to participate in.
JUDGE; Okay now 2: Deposition re --
MCFEELY: As the court may know I’m getting in late in the clergy one game here --
(ME: Right. He was defending the Salesians in San Francisco in 2006, fighting Joey Piscitelli and others in the Bay Area for years before that. Now he says he hasn’t been paying that much attention to what's been happening in LA for the last three years?)
MCFEELY: And now I’m getting more familiar with what the rules are. We've lived through Canadian depositions dropped on our doorstep. Now we understand that with this tentative you'll agree to a set specific date for depositions -- we need time to prepare witness and travel plans. If it’s a problem it’s a problem and we're dealing with this right as we prepare for trial.
(ME: Then he drops a big one)
MCFEELY: Your honor, tomorrow morning you can count on it there will be the 13th ex parte on this deposition in two months. I suggest what they did with these in August dropping them off and moving them off, was in appropriate.
(ME: Okay that does it.
This guy has descended into low blows and I hate to say this but this sounds sexist to me. The tone of his voice is pure:
Here she is this nagging female nagging and nagging
It’s called being persistent when a defendant is obstructing justice.
But because it’s a female attorney, McFeely is using his tone of voice to get the judge to agree it’s just a female nagging.
SO NOW IT’S TIME TO PASTE BACK IN THAT NASTY NOTE I CUT OUT BEFORE THE HEARING BEGAN:
I watch McFeely read the tentative where the motion he fought was granted. I want to warn him about how expressions etch into a face, and if you look angry and mean all the time as you age your face begins to look more and more like a Halloween fright wig.)
BACK TO HEARING
ZUKIN: The trial date (had to be) continued. One of the reasons we needed it continued was to get the Stockton personnel file of the perpetrator. We do not have those documents yet. For one of those deposition the telephone hearing was set and it was the only date
(Details details details)
(ME: Zukin, unfortunately, fell for McFeely’s trap. He treated her like a nagging wife and she started going on and on about details like a nagging wife did. But she didn't sound like one. She can’t. Not with that face. . . . )
ZUKIN: I notified that because we didn't have the documents and because trial date just continued, we needed a continuance until we got the documents.
No one wanted to engage in discussion with me and I sent an email about that. This surprised me because in most deposition there is cooperation back and forth.
(IMPORTANT POINT:)
ZUKIN: But for these two (DEPOSITIONS OF MICHAEL J. ALVAREZ & THOMAS PRENDERVILLE) it appeared that a line was drawn in the sand and I assume it is because these are critical witnesses in the case.
REPEAT: It appeared that a line was drawn in the sand and I assume it is because these are critical witnesses in the case
MCFEELY: Again it has to do with how we present to the court. Mr. Alvarez is being described by plaintiffs as being an important witness, a key witness. This is 2007. He runs the school defendant high school.
(ME: I love that “Defendant High School.)
MCFEELY: He knows nothing about what happened in 1947 or 1957 or 1965. I have to raise this issue now, your honor, because we're apparently going to keep coming back here until the trial date November 5.
(ME: THERE IT IS! He’s coming right out and admitting they're going to obstruct and obstruct right up to the date of trial.)
MCFEELY: I hope we can support our assertions without just asserting them. To say he’s a key witness--
JUDGE: I would expect depositions on both sides to be leading to relevant information. And if the witness has nothing to say it would be a very short deposition.
REPEAT: If the witness has nothing to say it would be a very short deposition.
SO NOTHING MCFEELY IS SAYING is relevant.
He’s going on and on predicting that these witnesses will have nothing to say instead of just letting the plaintiffs ask the witness, do you have something to say?
If the witnesses don’t have anything to say, end of deposition.
That's what the judge is trying to get across, but Fromholz should know by now logic doesn't have anything to do with defendants’ arguments when what they're trying to do is prevent information from coming out by any means possible.)
JUDGE: I don't want to be involved in all the discovery disputes that arise. Council is obligated to conduct discovery in professional manner that doesn't affect either side.
(ME: I’m not sure which side he’s scolding here, and from my perspective he should have been looking straight at McFeely, not at both of them. But there may be things I don't know. McFeely does not return my calls.)
EXPARTE AFTER EXPARTE
Here’s the part I don't know about. McFeely is claiming that day in and day out Zukin requests ex partes, in other words sessions with the attorneys and the judge in chambers where the public (i.e., me) can’t observe.
I go document diving after the hearing and don’t see any streams of ex parte motions in the database, but not everything gets scanned in right away. . . .
JUDGE: If there is another discovery dispute going to be brought in tomorrow morning on an ex parte basis --
(ME: As McFeely predicted in his earlier rant, "Helen Zukin just files ex parte after ex parte." Funny, there should be a few of them then at least in the public documents by now if it’s been going on that way for months as he implies. I didn't see any when I looked for them. . . )
JUDGE: -- I would hope that you could talk about it before you leave here and make that ex parte unnecessary. I’ve been liberal about accepting these ex partes in the clergy cases, but we’ve pared away a lot of cases here. The Salesians cases ought to be capable of being handled in a more organized way than the previous cases because there isn’t as much of a problem with allocation of time.
MCFEELY: A lot of people are working on these cases, I’m not familiar with it --
(ME: There he goes lying again. What was he on Mars since 2006 when he defended the Salesians in San Francisco?)
MCFEELY: I’m not in a position I can only say that it’s a prediction. The ex parte was first noticed for today then yesterday, now tomorrow --
(ME: That explains sort of why it was taken off calendar and penned back in this morning.)
JUDGE: (IN ORDERING TONE OF VOICE) Arrive at a resolution that's satisfactory
ZUKIN: It’s a matter of us not receiving information that we had requested and was not agreed to.
(She starts to set up date for a meet and confer.)
MCFEELY: I can’t do that. I’m familiar with my schedule but not the witnesses.
JUDGE: Let’s put a no later than date.
ZUKIN: For the depositions to occur?
JUDGE: Yes.
ZUKIN: No later than October 12th?
JUDGE: Does that give you enough time, Mr. McFeely>
MCFEELY: If it’s two or four we're running into expert witness issues we're running into issues with deposition next week but . . . (SHOULDERS SAG)
MCFEELY: We'll just have to do it.
SO the Salesians are now committed to provide MICHAEL J. ALVAREZ & THOMAS PRENDERVILLE and allow depositions of same before October 12th.
More to Come. . .
NEXT POST: DOCUMENT DIVING
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sex crimes can be funny, especially when it's the Salesians, as pedophile priests and their bosses continue to defend their behavior
*****
By Kay Ebeling
If I’m going to spend the next 50 years writing about sex crimes in the Catholic Church at least there’ll be a lot of laughter in my life, as I have to admit, the more I research and learn about the schemes and lies of men in robes flitting around altars and rectories, the more I have outbursts of uncontrollable laughter. The Catholic priests in America provide so much fodder for off-color jokes that Comedy Central and Mad TV writers will never be without filler material.
With a Salesian case headed for jury trial November 5, I called Joey Piscitelli to talk about his case against the Salesians that went to trial in July 2006 in Northern California. “What happened in my case," he said, "is you have to have notice that they knew or should have known. And how I had enough notice was the very first time Whelan masturbated in front of me Brother Sal Billante was watching.”
I burst out laughing and so did Joey. I mean they established prior notice by showing that another priest from the same order was taking part in the sex act as a voyeur? That's notice for ya. And with each laugh comes a flush of healing.
Wednesday morning is another hearing regarding Salesian cases heading for trial November 5 in LA Superior Court. Plaintiffs are asking the judge to grant their Motion to Compel Answers From FATHER WILLIAM SCHAFER and FATHER NICHOLAS REINA and Motion to Compel depositions of MICHAEL J. ALVAREZ & THOMAS PRENDERVILLE (re cases BC308301 & BC308555) City of Angels Lady will be there Wednesday morning and report on the hearing.
When we stopped laughing long enough Joey went on about his trial:
“Brother Sal Billante served eight years for 38 counts of child molestation himself. Now this is this the guy that was watching, not the guy that molested me. So he was in San Quentin, right.
"They put him on the witness stand to say I was a liar.
ME: [UNCONTROLLABLE LAUGHTER] I’M SORRY, THIS IS NOT NICE OF ME TO LAUGH AT THIS HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE IN YOUR LIFE.
JOEY: It is hilarious. It is hilarious.
Dealing with the horror of these experiences over a prolonged period has made my emotions like extreme-stretch elastic. Sure I cry barrels of tears in rages that last days at a time, but lately I also seem to have just as much elasticity in the amount of humor I can feel. When Joey said those words in that matter of fact tone, the laugh was from deep in the belly of the soul, healing, long lasting, exhilarating.
Last week the Salesians tried to get their cases in LA dismissed before the trial because the plaintiff Ron H wasn’t just raped by Titian Miani, but apparently Brother Ralph Marguia and Father Larry Lorenzoni raped him as well, with Church Attorney Steve McFeely arguing that somehow since he was raped by more priests than Titian Miani it was grounds for dismissing the case. He lost.
“Their leader Don Bosco, the one who started the Salesians,” Joey Piscitelli said. “He was with real young boys. And with the Salesians history of child molestation, my opinion is that Don Bosco was a pedophile and they followed in his tracks.”
Piscitelli said the Class of 1959 Salesian High School in Richmond had a class reunion recently and as reported in San Francisco Weekly: “There were 20 boys in the class,” Joey said. “Out of the 20 boys 15 of them said they were molested by priests at the seminary.”
I’m beginning to think that a few centuries ago Catholics set up the whole altar boy system so the priests who were trying to be celibate could still have sex with somebody.
Bosco created the Salesian Order to bring vulnerable boys from poverty stricken homes into the church when they're young. In Salesian rectories, schools, and camps the sex crimes were blatant and carried on out in the open. It looks to me like Don Bosco in the early 1800s just set out on his own to get even better access to little boys than they had with altar boys and Sunday Mass.
I think Don Bosco set up the Salesians to create a way to have access to young boys.
Joey seemed to agree: “The Salesians I think they carried on the history and, you know, the handing down. They molested the boys in the seminaries who were then molesting the boys who came to seminary. To them that was normal.”
Me: And then the boys grow up to become Salesian priests?
Joey: And they do it again and it’s been handed down generation after generation beginning with Don Bosco.
ACCUSED SALESIAN PRIESTS / CLERICS
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA -- after this message from me;
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END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
ACCUSED SALESIAN PRIESTS / CLERICS
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
1) Fr. Steve Whelan
Found responsible for molestation in court trial July 2006. Was kept in ministry with children for 2 ½ years after lawsuit was filed, 2003, by Bishop Levada, and Bishop Niederauer of S. F. Former vice principal, Salesian High, Richmond.
2) Fr. Bernard Dabbene. Convicted child abuser. Accused by several victims. Named in lawsuits. Former principal, Salesian High, Richmond
3) Bro. Sal Billante
Convicted serial child abuser. Shuffled to several
locations. Sent to prison. Named in several lawsuits. Former head of Boys Club, Salesian High, Richmond.
4) Fr. Richard Presenti.
Admitted child abuser. Accused serial molester.
Named in lawsuits. Former administrator, Salesian High, Richmond. Made principal at a Salesian School, even after abuse complaints were made.
5) Bro. Ernie Martinez.
Accused child molester. Named in lawsuit.
Former administrator at Salesian High, Richmond.
6) Fr. Jim Miani
Accused child molester. Named in lawsuits. Former
Teacher, Salesian High, Richmond.
7)Fr. Al Mengon
Accused abuser, in court documents in 2 ,C.C.C. court
depositions filed 2006. Former teacher - Salesian High, Richmond.
8)Bro. John Vas
Accused child molester. Report made at Richmond
Police Dept. 2002 . Former teacher, Salesian High, Richmond.
9)Mr. Sam Vitone.
Accused molester. Court trial 2006. Former Teacher, Salesian High School, Richmond.
10) Fr. Harold Danielson
Accused child abuser. Named in lawsuit. Kept in ministry, with access to children, by Bishop Levada, and Bishop Niederauer, San Francisco. Former-Salesian school.
11) Fr. Larry Lorenzoni
Accused child molester. Named in lawsuit. Accused also by Salesian High student. Ministry in San Francisco.
12) Bro. Dan Pacheco
Accused molester at both Salesian schools. Died in 1999.
Commercial: *****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
Please come back often and visit my advertisers.
The ads change continuously and it's fascinating to watch.
Click on one or two so I can make .02 cents.
You can also support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS.
Think of it as subscribing to a cosmic magazine and just every now and then when you feel you can or should, send me a high five -- or $500.
Like we say at Google
Do no evil
Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
More to come. . .
By Kay Ebeling
If I’m going to spend the next 50 years writing about sex crimes in the Catholic Church at least there’ll be a lot of laughter in my life, as I have to admit, the more I research and learn about the schemes and lies of men in robes flitting around altars and rectories, the more I have outbursts of uncontrollable laughter. The Catholic priests in America provide so much fodder for off-color jokes that Comedy Central and Mad TV writers will never be without filler material.
With a Salesian case headed for jury trial November 5, I called Joey Piscitelli to talk about his case against the Salesians that went to trial in July 2006 in Northern California. “What happened in my case," he said, "is you have to have notice that they knew or should have known. And how I had enough notice was the very first time Whelan masturbated in front of me Brother Sal Billante was watching.”
I burst out laughing and so did Joey. I mean they established prior notice by showing that another priest from the same order was taking part in the sex act as a voyeur? That's notice for ya. And with each laugh comes a flush of healing.
Wednesday morning is another hearing regarding Salesian cases heading for trial November 5 in LA Superior Court. Plaintiffs are asking the judge to grant their Motion to Compel Answers From FATHER WILLIAM SCHAFER and FATHER NICHOLAS REINA and Motion to Compel depositions of MICHAEL J. ALVAREZ & THOMAS PRENDERVILLE (re cases BC308301 & BC308555) City of Angels Lady will be there Wednesday morning and report on the hearing.
When we stopped laughing long enough Joey went on about his trial:
“Brother Sal Billante served eight years for 38 counts of child molestation himself. Now this is this the guy that was watching, not the guy that molested me. So he was in San Quentin, right.
"They put him on the witness stand to say I was a liar.
ME: [UNCONTROLLABLE LAUGHTER] I’M SORRY, THIS IS NOT NICE OF ME TO LAUGH AT THIS HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE IN YOUR LIFE.
JOEY: It is hilarious. It is hilarious.
Dealing with the horror of these experiences over a prolonged period has made my emotions like extreme-stretch elastic. Sure I cry barrels of tears in rages that last days at a time, but lately I also seem to have just as much elasticity in the amount of humor I can feel. When Joey said those words in that matter of fact tone, the laugh was from deep in the belly of the soul, healing, long lasting, exhilarating.
Last week the Salesians tried to get their cases in LA dismissed before the trial because the plaintiff Ron H wasn’t just raped by Titian Miani, but apparently Brother Ralph Marguia and Father Larry Lorenzoni raped him as well, with Church Attorney Steve McFeely arguing that somehow since he was raped by more priests than Titian Miani it was grounds for dismissing the case. He lost.
“Their leader Don Bosco, the one who started the Salesians,” Joey Piscitelli said. “He was with real young boys. And with the Salesians history of child molestation, my opinion is that Don Bosco was a pedophile and they followed in his tracks.”
Piscitelli said the Class of 1959 Salesian High School in Richmond had a class reunion recently and as reported in San Francisco Weekly: “There were 20 boys in the class,” Joey said. “Out of the 20 boys 15 of them said they were molested by priests at the seminary.”
I’m beginning to think that a few centuries ago Catholics set up the whole altar boy system so the priests who were trying to be celibate could still have sex with somebody.
Bosco created the Salesian Order to bring vulnerable boys from poverty stricken homes into the church when they're young. In Salesian rectories, schools, and camps the sex crimes were blatant and carried on out in the open. It looks to me like Don Bosco in the early 1800s just set out on his own to get even better access to little boys than they had with altar boys and Sunday Mass.
I think Don Bosco set up the Salesians to create a way to have access to young boys.
Joey seemed to agree: “The Salesians I think they carried on the history and, you know, the handing down. They molested the boys in the seminaries who were then molesting the boys who came to seminary. To them that was normal.”
Me: And then the boys grow up to become Salesian priests?
Joey: And they do it again and it’s been handed down generation after generation beginning with Don Bosco.
ACCUSED SALESIAN PRIESTS / CLERICS
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA -- after this message from me;
Commercial *****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
Please come back often and visit my advertisers.
The ads change continuously and it's fascinating to watch.
Click on one or two so I can make .02 cents.
You can also support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS.
Think of it as subscribing to a cosmic magazine and just every now and then when you feel you can or should, send me a high five -- or $500.
Like we say at Google
Do no evil
Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
ACCUSED SALESIAN PRIESTS / CLERICS
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
1) Fr. Steve Whelan
Found responsible for molestation in court trial July 2006. Was kept in ministry with children for 2 ½ years after lawsuit was filed, 2003, by Bishop Levada, and Bishop Niederauer of S. F. Former vice principal, Salesian High, Richmond.
2) Fr. Bernard Dabbene. Convicted child abuser. Accused by several victims. Named in lawsuits. Former principal, Salesian High, Richmond
3) Bro. Sal Billante
Convicted serial child abuser. Shuffled to several
locations. Sent to prison. Named in several lawsuits. Former head of Boys Club, Salesian High, Richmond.
4) Fr. Richard Presenti.
Admitted child abuser. Accused serial molester.
Named in lawsuits. Former administrator, Salesian High, Richmond. Made principal at a Salesian School, even after abuse complaints were made.
5) Bro. Ernie Martinez.
Accused child molester. Named in lawsuit.
Former administrator at Salesian High, Richmond.
6) Fr. Jim Miani
Accused child molester. Named in lawsuits. Former
Teacher, Salesian High, Richmond.
7)Fr. Al Mengon
Accused abuser, in court documents in 2 ,C.C.C. court
depositions filed 2006. Former teacher - Salesian High, Richmond.
8)Bro. John Vas
Accused child molester. Report made at Richmond
Police Dept. 2002 . Former teacher, Salesian High, Richmond.
9)Mr. Sam Vitone.
Accused molester. Court trial 2006. Former Teacher, Salesian High School, Richmond.
10) Fr. Harold Danielson
Accused child abuser. Named in lawsuit. Kept in ministry, with access to children, by Bishop Levada, and Bishop Niederauer, San Francisco. Former-Salesian school.
11) Fr. Larry Lorenzoni
Accused child molester. Named in lawsuit. Accused also by Salesian High student. Ministry in San Francisco.
12) Bro. Dan Pacheco
Accused molester at both Salesian schools. Died in 1999.
Commercial: *****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
Please come back often and visit my advertisers.
The ads change continuously and it's fascinating to watch.
Click on one or two so I can make .02 cents.
You can also support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS.
Think of it as subscribing to a cosmic magazine and just every now and then when you feel you can or should, send me a high five -- or $500.
Like we say at Google
Do no evil
Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
More to come. . .
Sunday, September 23, 2007
INTERVIEW: Tony DeMarco talks about upcoming jury trial and fighting Goliath for discovery of sex crimes in the LA Catholic Church.
*****
By Kay Ebeling
“They were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. Their strategy was to prevent the sordid history from coming out.” -- DeMarco
(The plaintiff liaison attorney in the LA Clergy Cases had a few minutes to talk last Friday about upcoming jury trials with the Salesians and some reflections on fighting Goliath to bring out sex crimes in the Catholic Church. Here's the interview:)
IS THERE SOME KIND OF GOLDEN PARAGRAPH THAT DESCRIBES THE ENTIRE SETTLEMENT?
DEMARCO: Not yet. It’s close. The documentation is very, very close.
IS THERE A STATEMENT IN THE SETTLEMENT THAT STATES RELEASE OF PERSONNEL FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS IS PART OF THE SETTLEMENT --
DEMARCO: It will be in the settlement agreement, yes. It’s being drafted.
DO YOU THINK THE CHURCH WILL TRY TO GET OUT OF RELEASING FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS?
DEMARCO: They're creative. They don’t like seeing the stuff come out, so they'll try to find a way, but we've got a process put in place and here in LA we've got judges who see the need for making this information known to the public.
THESE CASES MUST HAVE WREAKED HAVOC WITH YOUR HOME LIFE.
DEMARCO: This is something I put my heart and soul into. I think it -- I hope it showed. I think the clients appreciated it and saw it. You know, it wasn’t hard going to sleep at night knowing whether or not I was on the side of right or wrong.
But with that comes a great responsibility and that weighed real heavy for the last five years. So it’s nice to see this coming to a conclusion in some respects.
WERE YOU SHOCKED AT THE WAY THE CHURCH FOUGHT BACK?
No, I mean -- it -- I came to expect it. That they were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. I mean they just -- they fight everything. You know, and early on I was shocked and then as time went on you just try to figure a way to get what you need, even with all the things that they're doing.
DO YOU THINK THEY EVER MADE A REALLY LEGITIMATE LEGAL ARGUMENT?
There were some legal arguments along the way that were closer than others but I think their overall strategy was to prevent as much of the information about the sordid history from coming out as they possibly could.
YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO USE THIS?
It’s a fair statement. That was one of their major aims, to keep this away from the public view.
AND HOW DID THEY DO THAT?
They do that by preventing you from getting the information, either in depositions or getting documents. Or by making you work exceptionally hard for every little shred of information you get.
I mean, there were very professional people on the other side too, so I don't mean to say across the board everyone on the other side tried to do things that were underhanded, I don't think that at all.
But as an over arching aim, Kay, they wanted to prevent the truth of depravity in the institution from coming into the public view. That was an over arching aim of their legal strategy.
They would be very creative about thinking up new arguments about privileges that didn't exist and take us years to get past because it takes a while to work things through the legal system, and that worked, that worked in their favor.
And at the very same time they were trying to go after as much personal information from each and every plaintiff and plaintiff family member as they possibly could. They were trying to drain people and, you know, to some people it probably happened. But I think people stayed pretty resolute through this.
THEY WERE TRYING TO DRAIN THE PLAINTIFFS?
And the plaintiffs’ lawyers. I mean there aren’t too many plaintiffs’ law firms out that there that could have afforded to go through five years’ worth of daily bruising litigation without seeing much come in in the interim. That's a really tough thing to do. The folks at the large firms, here at KBLA and at Kathy’s (Freberg's) office took huge-huge risks, huge risks.
And they took those risks fully knowing what the risk was, that it was an ever present danger these firms could be bankrupted because of taking this litigation on.
I don't think people fully appreciate that, but day in and day out salaries are getting paid to fight and fight and fight.
I don't think people realize how much of a David and Goliath it really was. You have one of the largest most powerful richest institutions in the world, that we spent five years trying to go after.
We dug deeper, and when the documents start coming out from what we were able to find, people will appreciate it more.
And I think we dug deeper in this litigation than anyone ever has in any litigation against the church. We deposed more people, we got more documents.
IS THAT BECAUSE OF CALIFORNIA’S DISCOVERY LAWS?
I think a large measure of it was because of the tenacity of the people going after it. But yeah that we have decent discovery laws in this state and the statute of limitations being passed allowing people to file was a huge part of it. But --
It took a lot of work.
I mean the other side, even with discovery law the way it is, they weren’t going to willingly give stuff up. We had to go fight and fight, file motion after motion, go through battle after battle. And oftentimes you couldn't even go that way. We had to go and find witnesses themselves, track them down independently, get witness statements. It was a lot of work, a lot of money.
And we're still doing it with the Salesians. I mean we've got a November 5th trial there and if it goes, I’m very much looking forward to it.
YOU THINK THE LA SALESIANS CASE WILL GO ALL THE WAY TO A JURY TRIAL NOVEMBER 5?
DEMARCO: It might. It really might. I think it stands as good a chance as any case at all ever did. Because of the position these guys are taking. Now it could change, you know how these things work, but they are the most recalcitrant. The Salesians have been the most recalcitrant religious order in California.
In Northern California -- Joey Piscitelli’s case and then there was another one that John Manly tried back just before that, the last two, Salesians hung for a trial. They just wanted to try the last of their cases. They ended up having to pay in both those cases.
(UPDATE: The Salesians haven’t paid Joey yet.
A jury awarded Piscitelli $300,000 from the Salesians after a 3-week trial July 2006.
The Salesians appealed, then filed for a year’s extension last July.
See interview with Joey Piscitelli here at city of angels blog soon.)
WHAT OTHER TRIALS ARE DEFINITELY SET IN NEXT WEEKS?
At the moment probably the only really definite trial is the November 5th trial. There’s another one set for trial in January involving the Salesians again and Father Dominguez. And that's one of Kathy Freberg’s cases. January. There’s also still a trial date on calendar for the Claretians cases, involving Father Lovell. Kathy’s office can give you more details on that one.
DID YOU EVER GET TO DEPO MONSIGNOR LIRETTE?
Did we do a follow-up after our motion, no. I’m understanding he passed away.
OH. WELL, THANK YOU, MR. DEMARCO.
(WATCH HERE FOR MORE INTERVIEWS WITH KEY PERSONS)
More to Come. . .
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
Please come back often and visit my advertisers.
The ads change continuously and it's fascinating to watch.
Click on one or two so I can make .02 cents.
You can also support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS.
Think of it as subscribing to a cosmic magazine and just every now and then when you feel you can or should, send me a high five -- or $500.
Like we say at Google
Do no evil
Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
By Kay Ebeling
“They were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. Their strategy was to prevent the sordid history from coming out.” -- DeMarco
(The plaintiff liaison attorney in the LA Clergy Cases had a few minutes to talk last Friday about upcoming jury trials with the Salesians and some reflections on fighting Goliath to bring out sex crimes in the Catholic Church. Here's the interview:)
IS THERE SOME KIND OF GOLDEN PARAGRAPH THAT DESCRIBES THE ENTIRE SETTLEMENT?
DEMARCO: Not yet. It’s close. The documentation is very, very close.
IS THERE A STATEMENT IN THE SETTLEMENT THAT STATES RELEASE OF PERSONNEL FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS IS PART OF THE SETTLEMENT --
DEMARCO: It will be in the settlement agreement, yes. It’s being drafted.
DO YOU THINK THE CHURCH WILL TRY TO GET OUT OF RELEASING FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS?
DEMARCO: They're creative. They don’t like seeing the stuff come out, so they'll try to find a way, but we've got a process put in place and here in LA we've got judges who see the need for making this information known to the public.
THESE CASES MUST HAVE WREAKED HAVOC WITH YOUR HOME LIFE.
DEMARCO: This is something I put my heart and soul into. I think it -- I hope it showed. I think the clients appreciated it and saw it. You know, it wasn’t hard going to sleep at night knowing whether or not I was on the side of right or wrong.
But with that comes a great responsibility and that weighed real heavy for the last five years. So it’s nice to see this coming to a conclusion in some respects.
WERE YOU SHOCKED AT THE WAY THE CHURCH FOUGHT BACK?
No, I mean -- it -- I came to expect it. That they were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. I mean they just -- they fight everything. You know, and early on I was shocked and then as time went on you just try to figure a way to get what you need, even with all the things that they're doing.
DO YOU THINK THEY EVER MADE A REALLY LEGITIMATE LEGAL ARGUMENT?
There were some legal arguments along the way that were closer than others but I think their overall strategy was to prevent as much of the information about the sordid history from coming out as they possibly could.
YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO USE THIS?
It’s a fair statement. That was one of their major aims, to keep this away from the public view.
AND HOW DID THEY DO THAT?
They do that by preventing you from getting the information, either in depositions or getting documents. Or by making you work exceptionally hard for every little shred of information you get.
I mean, there were very professional people on the other side too, so I don't mean to say across the board everyone on the other side tried to do things that were underhanded, I don't think that at all.
But as an over arching aim, Kay, they wanted to prevent the truth of depravity in the institution from coming into the public view. That was an over arching aim of their legal strategy.
They would be very creative about thinking up new arguments about privileges that didn't exist and take us years to get past because it takes a while to work things through the legal system, and that worked, that worked in their favor.
And at the very same time they were trying to go after as much personal information from each and every plaintiff and plaintiff family member as they possibly could. They were trying to drain people and, you know, to some people it probably happened. But I think people stayed pretty resolute through this.
THEY WERE TRYING TO DRAIN THE PLAINTIFFS?
And the plaintiffs’ lawyers. I mean there aren’t too many plaintiffs’ law firms out that there that could have afforded to go through five years’ worth of daily bruising litigation without seeing much come in in the interim. That's a really tough thing to do. The folks at the large firms, here at KBLA and at Kathy’s (Freberg's) office took huge-huge risks, huge risks.
And they took those risks fully knowing what the risk was, that it was an ever present danger these firms could be bankrupted because of taking this litigation on.
I don't think people fully appreciate that, but day in and day out salaries are getting paid to fight and fight and fight.
I don't think people realize how much of a David and Goliath it really was. You have one of the largest most powerful richest institutions in the world, that we spent five years trying to go after.
We dug deeper, and when the documents start coming out from what we were able to find, people will appreciate it more.
And I think we dug deeper in this litigation than anyone ever has in any litigation against the church. We deposed more people, we got more documents.
IS THAT BECAUSE OF CALIFORNIA’S DISCOVERY LAWS?
I think a large measure of it was because of the tenacity of the people going after it. But yeah that we have decent discovery laws in this state and the statute of limitations being passed allowing people to file was a huge part of it. But --
It took a lot of work.
I mean the other side, even with discovery law the way it is, they weren’t going to willingly give stuff up. We had to go fight and fight, file motion after motion, go through battle after battle. And oftentimes you couldn't even go that way. We had to go and find witnesses themselves, track them down independently, get witness statements. It was a lot of work, a lot of money.
And we're still doing it with the Salesians. I mean we've got a November 5th trial there and if it goes, I’m very much looking forward to it.
YOU THINK THE LA SALESIANS CASE WILL GO ALL THE WAY TO A JURY TRIAL NOVEMBER 5?
DEMARCO: It might. It really might. I think it stands as good a chance as any case at all ever did. Because of the position these guys are taking. Now it could change, you know how these things work, but they are the most recalcitrant. The Salesians have been the most recalcitrant religious order in California.
In Northern California -- Joey Piscitelli’s case and then there was another one that John Manly tried back just before that, the last two, Salesians hung for a trial. They just wanted to try the last of their cases. They ended up having to pay in both those cases.
(UPDATE: The Salesians haven’t paid Joey yet.
A jury awarded Piscitelli $300,000 from the Salesians after a 3-week trial July 2006.
The Salesians appealed, then filed for a year’s extension last July.
See interview with Joey Piscitelli here at city of angels blog soon.)
WHAT OTHER TRIALS ARE DEFINITELY SET IN NEXT WEEKS?
At the moment probably the only really definite trial is the November 5th trial. There’s another one set for trial in January involving the Salesians again and Father Dominguez. And that's one of Kathy Freberg’s cases. January. There’s also still a trial date on calendar for the Claretians cases, involving Father Lovell. Kathy’s office can give you more details on that one.
DID YOU EVER GET TO DEPO MONSIGNOR LIRETTE?
Did we do a follow-up after our motion, no. I’m understanding he passed away.
OH. WELL, THANK YOU, MR. DEMARCO.
(WATCH HERE FOR MORE INTERVIEWS WITH KEY PERSONS)
More to Come. . .
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
Please come back often and visit my advertisers.
The ads change continuously and it's fascinating to watch.
Click on one or two so I can make .02 cents.
You can also support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS.
Think of it as subscribing to a cosmic magazine and just every now and then when you feel you can or should, send me a high five -- or $500.
Like we say at Google
Do no evil
Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
INTERVIEW: Tony DeMarco talks about upcoming Salesians trial and the July 16th settlement re sex crimes in the LA Catholic Church.
*****
By Kay Ebeling
“They were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. Their strategy was to prevent the sordid history from coming out.”
--Plaintiff Attorney Tony DeMarco
I caught Tony DeMarco with time to talk last Friday. Here's the interview where he talks about upcoming jury trials re Salesians cases and some of his thoughts on batlling "Goliath" to expose decades of sex crimes in the Catholic Church.
IS THERE SOME KIND OF GOLDEN PARAGRAPH THAT DESCRIBES THE ENTIRE SETTLEMENT?
DEMARCO: Not yet. It’s close. The documentation is very, very close.
IS THERE A STATEMENT IN THE SETTLEMENT THAT STATES RELEASE OF PERSONNEL FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS IS PART OF THE SETTLEMENT --
DEMARCO: It will be in the settlement agreement, yes. It’s being drafted.
DO YOU THINK THE CHURCH WILL TRY TO GET OUT OF RELEASING FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS?
DEMARCO: They're creative. They don’t like seeing the stuff come out, so they'll try to find a way, but we've got a process put in place and we've got judges who see the need for making this information known to the public.
THESE CASES MUST HAVE WREAKED HAVOC WITH YOUR HOME LIFE.
DEMARCO: This is something I put my heart and soul into. I think it -- I hope it showed. I think the clients appreciated it and saw it. You know, it wasn’t hard going to sleep at night knowing whether or not I was on the side of right or wrong.
But with that comes a great responsibility and that weighed real heavy for the last five years. So it’s nice to see this coming to a conclusion in some respects.
WERE YOU SHOCKED AT THE WAY THE CHURCH FOUGHT BACK?
No, I mean -- it -- I came to expect it. That they were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. I mean they just -- they fight everything. You know, and early on I was shocked and then as time went on you just try to figure a way to get what you need, even with all the things that they're doing.
DO YOU THINK THEY EVER MADE A REALLY LEGITIMATE LEGAL ARGUMENT?
There were some legal arguments along the way that were closer than others but I think their overall strategy was to prevent as much of the information about the sordid history from coming out as they possibly could.
YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO USE THIS?
It’s a fair statement. That was one of their major aims, to keep this away from the public view.
AND HOW DID THEY DO THAT?
They do that by preventing you from getting the information, either in depositions or getting documents. Or by making you work exceptionally hard for every little shred of information you get.
I mean, there were very professional people on the other side too, so I don't mean to say across the board everyone on the other side tried to do things that were underhanded, I don't think that at all.
But as an over arching aim, Kay, they wanted to prevent the truth of depravity in the institution from coming into the public view. That was an over arching aim of their legal strategy.
They would be very creative about thinking up new arguments about privileges that didn't exist and take us years to get past because it takes a while to work things through the legal system, and that worked, that worked in their favor.
And at the very same time they were trying to go after as much personal information from each and every plaintiff and plaintiff family member as they possibly could. They were trying to drain people and, you know, to some people it probably happened. But I think people stayed pretty resolute through this.
THEY WERE TRYING TO DRAIN THE PLAINTIFFS?
And the plaintiffs’ lawyers. I mean there aren’t too many plaintiffs’ law firms out that there that could have afforded to go through five years’ worth of daily bruising litigation without seeing much come in in the interim. I mean that's a really tough thing to do, I mean the folks at the large firms, I mean, here at KBL, at Kathy’s office, they took huge-huge risks, huge risks. And they took that, you know, fully knowing what the risk was, I mean they -- it was an ever present danger these firms could be bankrupted because of taking this litigation on. I don't think people fully appreciate that, but day in and day out salaries are getting paid to fight and fight and fight.
I don't think people realize how much of a David and Goliath it really was. You have one of the largest most powerful richest institutions in the world, that we spent five years trying to go after.
We dug deeper, and when the documents start coming out from what we were able to find, people will appreciate it more.
And I think we dug deeper in this litigation than anyone ever has in any litigation against the church. We deposed more people, we got more documents.
IS THAT BECAUSE OF CALIFORNIA’S DISCOVERY LAWS?
I think a large measure of it was because of the tenacity of the people going after it. But yeah that we have decent discovery laws in this state and the statute of limitations being passed allowing people to file was a huge part of it. But --
It took a lot of work.
I mean the other side, even with discovery law the way it is, they weren’t going to willingly give stuff up. We had to go fight and fight, file motion after, go through battle after battle. And oftentimes you couldn't even go that way. We had to go and find witnesses themselves, track them down independently, get witness statements. It was a lot of work, a lot of money.
And we're still doing it with the Salesians. I mean we've got a November 5th trial there and if it goes, I’m very much looking forward to it.
YOU THINK THIS CASE WILL GO ALL THE WAY TO A JURY?
DEMARCO: It might. It really might. I think it stands as good a chance as any case at all ever did. Because of the position these guys are taking. Now it could change, you know how these worked but they are the most recalcitrant. The Salesians have been the most recalcitrant religious order in California.
In Northern California -- Joey Piscitelli’s case and then there was another one that John Manly tried back just before that, the last two, Salesians hung for a trial. They just wanted to try the last of their cases. They ended up having to pay in both those cases.
(UPDATE: The Salesians haven’t paid Joey yet. A jury awarded Piscitelli $300,000 July 2006, the Salesians appealed, then filed for a year’s extension last July. See interview with Joey Piscitelli here at city of angels blog soon.)
WHAT OTHER TRIALS ARE DEFINITELY SET IN NEXT WEEKS?
At the moment probably the only really definite trial is the November 5th trial. There’s another one set for trial in January involving the Salesians again and Father Dominguez. And that's one of Kathy Freberg’s cases. January. There’s also still a trial date on calendar for the Claretians cases, involving Father Lovell. Kathy’s office can give you more details on that one.
DID YOU EVER GET TO DEPO MONSIGNOR LIRETTE?
Did we do a follow-up after our motion, no. I’m understanding he passed away.
THANK YOU
WATCH HERE FOR MORE INTERVIEWS WITH KEY PERSONS
More to Come. . .
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. You can also still put a high five on my PayPal account, just click the button in the top left corner and send whatever you want to spend as your cosmic subscription to this blog.
I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
By Kay Ebeling
“They were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. Their strategy was to prevent the sordid history from coming out.”
--Plaintiff Attorney Tony DeMarco
I caught Tony DeMarco with time to talk last Friday. Here's the interview where he talks about upcoming jury trials re Salesians cases and some of his thoughts on batlling "Goliath" to expose decades of sex crimes in the Catholic Church.
IS THERE SOME KIND OF GOLDEN PARAGRAPH THAT DESCRIBES THE ENTIRE SETTLEMENT?
DEMARCO: Not yet. It’s close. The documentation is very, very close.
IS THERE A STATEMENT IN THE SETTLEMENT THAT STATES RELEASE OF PERSONNEL FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS IS PART OF THE SETTLEMENT --
DEMARCO: It will be in the settlement agreement, yes. It’s being drafted.
DO YOU THINK THE CHURCH WILL TRY TO GET OUT OF RELEASING FILES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS?
DEMARCO: They're creative. They don’t like seeing the stuff come out, so they'll try to find a way, but we've got a process put in place and we've got judges who see the need for making this information known to the public.
THESE CASES MUST HAVE WREAKED HAVOC WITH YOUR HOME LIFE.
DEMARCO: This is something I put my heart and soul into. I think it -- I hope it showed. I think the clients appreciated it and saw it. You know, it wasn’t hard going to sleep at night knowing whether or not I was on the side of right or wrong.
But with that comes a great responsibility and that weighed real heavy for the last five years. So it’s nice to see this coming to a conclusion in some respects.
WERE YOU SHOCKED AT THE WAY THE CHURCH FOUGHT BACK?
No, I mean -- it -- I came to expect it. That they were going to try every trick in the book and create new books for new tricks. I mean they just -- they fight everything. You know, and early on I was shocked and then as time went on you just try to figure a way to get what you need, even with all the things that they're doing.
DO YOU THINK THEY EVER MADE A REALLY LEGITIMATE LEGAL ARGUMENT?
There were some legal arguments along the way that were closer than others but I think their overall strategy was to prevent as much of the information about the sordid history from coming out as they possibly could.
YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO USE THIS?
It’s a fair statement. That was one of their major aims, to keep this away from the public view.
AND HOW DID THEY DO THAT?
They do that by preventing you from getting the information, either in depositions or getting documents. Or by making you work exceptionally hard for every little shred of information you get.
I mean, there were very professional people on the other side too, so I don't mean to say across the board everyone on the other side tried to do things that were underhanded, I don't think that at all.
But as an over arching aim, Kay, they wanted to prevent the truth of depravity in the institution from coming into the public view. That was an over arching aim of their legal strategy.
They would be very creative about thinking up new arguments about privileges that didn't exist and take us years to get past because it takes a while to work things through the legal system, and that worked, that worked in their favor.
And at the very same time they were trying to go after as much personal information from each and every plaintiff and plaintiff family member as they possibly could. They were trying to drain people and, you know, to some people it probably happened. But I think people stayed pretty resolute through this.
THEY WERE TRYING TO DRAIN THE PLAINTIFFS?
And the plaintiffs’ lawyers. I mean there aren’t too many plaintiffs’ law firms out that there that could have afforded to go through five years’ worth of daily bruising litigation without seeing much come in in the interim. I mean that's a really tough thing to do, I mean the folks at the large firms, I mean, here at KBL, at Kathy’s office, they took huge-huge risks, huge risks. And they took that, you know, fully knowing what the risk was, I mean they -- it was an ever present danger these firms could be bankrupted because of taking this litigation on. I don't think people fully appreciate that, but day in and day out salaries are getting paid to fight and fight and fight.
I don't think people realize how much of a David and Goliath it really was. You have one of the largest most powerful richest institutions in the world, that we spent five years trying to go after.
We dug deeper, and when the documents start coming out from what we were able to find, people will appreciate it more.
And I think we dug deeper in this litigation than anyone ever has in any litigation against the church. We deposed more people, we got more documents.
IS THAT BECAUSE OF CALIFORNIA’S DISCOVERY LAWS?
I think a large measure of it was because of the tenacity of the people going after it. But yeah that we have decent discovery laws in this state and the statute of limitations being passed allowing people to file was a huge part of it. But --
It took a lot of work.
I mean the other side, even with discovery law the way it is, they weren’t going to willingly give stuff up. We had to go fight and fight, file motion after, go through battle after battle. And oftentimes you couldn't even go that way. We had to go and find witnesses themselves, track them down independently, get witness statements. It was a lot of work, a lot of money.
And we're still doing it with the Salesians. I mean we've got a November 5th trial there and if it goes, I’m very much looking forward to it.
YOU THINK THIS CASE WILL GO ALL THE WAY TO A JURY?
DEMARCO: It might. It really might. I think it stands as good a chance as any case at all ever did. Because of the position these guys are taking. Now it could change, you know how these worked but they are the most recalcitrant. The Salesians have been the most recalcitrant religious order in California.
In Northern California -- Joey Piscitelli’s case and then there was another one that John Manly tried back just before that, the last two, Salesians hung for a trial. They just wanted to try the last of their cases. They ended up having to pay in both those cases.
(UPDATE: The Salesians haven’t paid Joey yet. A jury awarded Piscitelli $300,000 July 2006, the Salesians appealed, then filed for a year’s extension last July. See interview with Joey Piscitelli here at city of angels blog soon.)
WHAT OTHER TRIALS ARE DEFINITELY SET IN NEXT WEEKS?
At the moment probably the only really definite trial is the November 5th trial. There’s another one set for trial in January involving the Salesians again and Father Dominguez. And that's one of Kathy Freberg’s cases. January. There’s also still a trial date on calendar for the Claretians cases, involving Father Lovell. Kathy’s office can give you more details on that one.
DID YOU EVER GET TO DEPO MONSIGNOR LIRETTE?
Did we do a follow-up after our motion, no. I’m understanding he passed away.
THANK YOU
WATCH HERE FOR MORE INTERVIEWS WITH KEY PERSONS
More to Come. . .
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. You can also still put a high five on my PayPal account, just click the button in the top left corner and send whatever you want to spend as your cosmic subscription to this blog.
I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
Saturday, September 22, 2007
TRANSCRIPT: July 16th Hearing in Superior Court Settling 508 Civil Cases Against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
*****
By Kay Ebeling
“There’s been a constant stream of motions presented to this court in areas that are out on the fringes of established law.” -- Judge Haley Fromholz
Call me Scoop. Just now went back and read my July 16th notes and decided to copy and paste them here for others to read. It’s pretty much a transcript of what was said at the settlement hearing in LA Superior Court which ended 508 plaintiffs’ cases against the Archdiocese. (Note: I’m not a court reporter, just incredibly fast.)
JUDGE HALEY FROMHOLZ: This was the date set for the trial re Hagenbach allegations. It was impossible over the weekend not to understand there’d be a settlement in these cases. This morning I need to establish it is a settlement, it covers the cases and it’s the desire of the attorneys, so that the trial dates can be vacated.
Judge asks Boucher to state it is a settlement and Hennigan does as well.
PLAINTIFF ATTY. RAY BOUCHER: I was ready to give an opening statement this morning. We represent 245 victims and I’d like the court to at least acknowledge the Hagenbach victims who are here today who were ready to start trial -- ask them to stand.
(Row of men stand up.)
BOUCHER: On behalf of the 508 who make up Clergy One plaintiffs we have reached a settlement of principle that resolves all cases against the Los Angeles archdiocese and related entities --
Memo of understanding signed by all sides
(NOTE: Was it signed or is it yet to be signed?)
"660 million dollars"
BOUCHER: In addition a number of cases remain before the court concerning a number of religious orders who haven’t gone along with the settlement
BOUCHER: But this releases the Los Angeles archdiocese.
BOUCHER: Release of personnel records and confidential files and those subpoenaed by third parties (is part of the settlement).
DEFENSE/CHURCH ATTORNEY J. MICHAEL HENNIGAN : First I want to the victims it is our deep regret that this took so long.
VICTIM CALLS OUT: Not accepted
JUDGE: This is a hearing. It’s not okay to testify
HENNIGAN: It’s been the most complex undertaking I’ve ever done in my career. This last week seemed to be endless we worked so hard. I’m indebted to the court for helping us reach this conclusion
HENNIGAN: We all hoped this would occur but feared it might not so thank you. We have reached a protocol re those that may be controversial in the way we resoloved those
(What is he saying?!?!?!)
JUDGE: With a written notice of settlement filed by plaintiffs counsel
(??? Haven’t been able to find a copy of this yet. . . )
JUDGE: Then the court vacates trial date. At this time parties have a time to show cause why it should not be dismissed.
. . . .
JUDGE: This came so close on the heels there is no written settlement so I’m asking that plaintiffs’ counsel when I read their names stand and tell me if indeed it’s the fact -- there is a settlement agreement it’s settled and you wish the trial date to be vacated.
Eight cases to read by name.
PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY VENUS SOLTAN says she wants the payment to be in 60 days
She represents 50 people and has not seen the memo of understanding
BOUCHER says the soonest practical and possible is December 1
PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY JOHN MANLY: I think we have an agreement is what we're trying to say to put on record. We haven’t seen the memorandum. We can agree to vacate the trial date
MANLY: I’ll look at the agreement and if there’s anything I don't want in there I’ll let the court know.
JUDGE: This is D Day we're either vacating trial date or going to trial.
JUDGE: We need to set a date for dismissal of Hagenbach normally 45 days
BOUCHER: Can we set a court hearing? The document hasn’t been -- San Diego’s bankruptcy is still a consideration. I’ll consult with Mr. Hennigan re a date…
JUDGE: I’d like to get written notice from liaison counsel that renders an account of all the names -- All defendants and any remaining defendants case by case.
JUDGE: When can I expect something like that?
BOUCHER: Two weeks?
JUDGE: Okay July 30th 8:30 AM
(It hasn’t been turned in yet as of September 20, 2007¬.)
BOUCHER: Miani is an order priest so that case will go forward with a trial date in September.
(Now set for trial November 5.)
JUDGE: The Court will set a trial setting conference for the remaining cases. Probably early in August cases with remaining defendants -- those cases still in discovery will meet to establish that they are released.
. . . .
FROMHOLZ: Vetter case re Passionists also has to . . .
(Sorry didn't get that)
JUDGE: These cases have been pending and actively litigated for at least 3 years. They're immensely complicated. Each has its own set of facts and painful history, the facts are extremely complicated. Discovery has been arduous, legal issues have been complicated.
JUDGE: There’s been a constant stream of motions presented to this court in areas that are out on the fringes of established law.
J: We became aware there are evidentiary issues that are myriad and complex and probably would have provided a bases for anyone who wished to do so to appeal.
J: So for those reasons and to avoid pain and anguish on the part of everyone this is the right thing to do. Settling is the right thing to do. Unlike what it says in the newspaper I don't decide whether to approve or disapprove a settlement.
J: Let me commend liaison counsel -- they did what lawyers are supposed to do which sometimes can appear to be contradictory but they advocated their clients’ cause with zeal.
At the same time in recent days as they sought to settle the cases, they did everything they could to make these cases run efficiently
(ME: NO THEY DIDN'T THE CHURCH ATTORNEYS PUT UP OBSTRUCTIONS AT EVERY TURN!!!
IT’S THE MAD HATTER IN COURT AGAIN: NOTHING IS TRUE OR REALLY REAL JUST SAY THE RIGHT THING AND MOVE ON)
BOUCHER: Five years ago last week Gray Davis signed into law this opportunity for people to have justice.
(ALL THE PLAINTIFFS STAND UP, A WOMAN BREAKS OUT IN TEARS)
BOUCHER ASKS FOR A MOMENT OF SILENCE ON BEHALF OF VICTIMS WHO DIED BEFORE GETTING TO THIS POINT
. . . .
BOUCHER: We wouldn't be here today without Peter Lichtman who years ago took on this case. He is a tremendous bright light for this court system and the victims wouldn't be here without his efforts. Jeff McCoy when we first went to him said Why me? This changed his life.
BOUCHER: [TEARFUL] His kindness his gentleness his wisdom. . .I don't know how to tell the court how many times in the last weeks this settlement was dead.
B: With yarn and string and glue he kept it together [TEARFUL]
B: I’m usually very critical of insurance companies but I do want to acknowledge that ???
B: Most of the victims will not forgive the cardinal but I’ve seen him as he’s met with many clients and began to try to start the healing process. He took steps that I think he could only take and went to Rome several times in the last weeks to get ready to settle these cases. It was his decision to tell the church and lawyers to follow his guidance and his lead and as a result of that we were able to settle these case.
B: I hope that given his contact with clients he’ll become a leader in the world to prevent child abuse.
B: I acknowledge Tony DeMarco everyone owes him gratitude, everyone, the lawyers, the clients. My fellow lawyers (almost totally in tears) I think you --
HENNIGAN: I don't think Mr. Boucher meant to say our meeting persuaded me to settle these cases. We were trying to settle these cases since before the law was passed more than five years ago. It’s been a pleasure at times, frustrating at times, but I’ve always seen the talent of Ray Boucher
(Boucher is going around the room hugging and kissing people)
H: I will say I thank Mr. Boucher for his kind words about the cardinal. He visited extensively with over 70 victims and it changed us all, changed our perspective on what happened here.
H: I’d like to say that reform in the church was going to happen anyway and I can’t say that. These cases have forever reformed the archdiocese of Los Angeles and it will never be the same.
H: Thursday night we got one piece done and Friday night the rest of it done. Thanks to the lines of communication we'll still be working together through the document issues and the rest of the things…..
JUDGE: I think that competes our business here this morning.
(ME: OH MY GOD Mahony has been sitting there in a suit all this time. And some serious bling around the neck!!!)
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By Kay Ebeling
“There’s been a constant stream of motions presented to this court in areas that are out on the fringes of established law.” -- Judge Haley Fromholz
Call me Scoop. Just now went back and read my July 16th notes and decided to copy and paste them here for others to read. It’s pretty much a transcript of what was said at the settlement hearing in LA Superior Court which ended 508 plaintiffs’ cases against the Archdiocese. (Note: I’m not a court reporter, just incredibly fast.)
JUDGE HALEY FROMHOLZ: This was the date set for the trial re Hagenbach allegations. It was impossible over the weekend not to understand there’d be a settlement in these cases. This morning I need to establish it is a settlement, it covers the cases and it’s the desire of the attorneys, so that the trial dates can be vacated.
Judge asks Boucher to state it is a settlement and Hennigan does as well.
PLAINTIFF ATTY. RAY BOUCHER: I was ready to give an opening statement this morning. We represent 245 victims and I’d like the court to at least acknowledge the Hagenbach victims who are here today who were ready to start trial -- ask them to stand.
(Row of men stand up.)
BOUCHER: On behalf of the 508 who make up Clergy One plaintiffs we have reached a settlement of principle that resolves all cases against the Los Angeles archdiocese and related entities --
Memo of understanding signed by all sides
(NOTE: Was it signed or is it yet to be signed?)
"660 million dollars"
BOUCHER: In addition a number of cases remain before the court concerning a number of religious orders who haven’t gone along with the settlement
BOUCHER: But this releases the Los Angeles archdiocese.
BOUCHER: Release of personnel records and confidential files and those subpoenaed by third parties (is part of the settlement).
DEFENSE/CHURCH ATTORNEY J. MICHAEL HENNIGAN : First I want to the victims it is our deep regret that this took so long.
VICTIM CALLS OUT: Not accepted
JUDGE: This is a hearing. It’s not okay to testify
HENNIGAN: It’s been the most complex undertaking I’ve ever done in my career. This last week seemed to be endless we worked so hard. I’m indebted to the court for helping us reach this conclusion
HENNIGAN: We all hoped this would occur but feared it might not so thank you. We have reached a protocol re those that may be controversial in the way we resoloved those
(What is he saying?!?!?!)
JUDGE: With a written notice of settlement filed by plaintiffs counsel
(??? Haven’t been able to find a copy of this yet. . . )
JUDGE: Then the court vacates trial date. At this time parties have a time to show cause why it should not be dismissed.
. . . .
JUDGE: This came so close on the heels there is no written settlement so I’m asking that plaintiffs’ counsel when I read their names stand and tell me if indeed it’s the fact -- there is a settlement agreement it’s settled and you wish the trial date to be vacated.
Eight cases to read by name.
PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY VENUS SOLTAN says she wants the payment to be in 60 days
She represents 50 people and has not seen the memo of understanding
BOUCHER says the soonest practical and possible is December 1
PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY JOHN MANLY: I think we have an agreement is what we're trying to say to put on record. We haven’t seen the memorandum. We can agree to vacate the trial date
MANLY: I’ll look at the agreement and if there’s anything I don't want in there I’ll let the court know.
JUDGE: This is D Day we're either vacating trial date or going to trial.
JUDGE: We need to set a date for dismissal of Hagenbach normally 45 days
BOUCHER: Can we set a court hearing? The document hasn’t been -- San Diego’s bankruptcy is still a consideration. I’ll consult with Mr. Hennigan re a date…
JUDGE: I’d like to get written notice from liaison counsel that renders an account of all the names -- All defendants and any remaining defendants case by case.
JUDGE: When can I expect something like that?
BOUCHER: Two weeks?
JUDGE: Okay July 30th 8:30 AM
(It hasn’t been turned in yet as of September 20, 2007¬.)
BOUCHER: Miani is an order priest so that case will go forward with a trial date in September.
(Now set for trial November 5.)
JUDGE: The Court will set a trial setting conference for the remaining cases. Probably early in August cases with remaining defendants -- those cases still in discovery will meet to establish that they are released.
. . . .
FROMHOLZ: Vetter case re Passionists also has to . . .
(Sorry didn't get that)
JUDGE: These cases have been pending and actively litigated for at least 3 years. They're immensely complicated. Each has its own set of facts and painful history, the facts are extremely complicated. Discovery has been arduous, legal issues have been complicated.
JUDGE: There’s been a constant stream of motions presented to this court in areas that are out on the fringes of established law.
J: We became aware there are evidentiary issues that are myriad and complex and probably would have provided a bases for anyone who wished to do so to appeal.
J: So for those reasons and to avoid pain and anguish on the part of everyone this is the right thing to do. Settling is the right thing to do. Unlike what it says in the newspaper I don't decide whether to approve or disapprove a settlement.
J: Let me commend liaison counsel -- they did what lawyers are supposed to do which sometimes can appear to be contradictory but they advocated their clients’ cause with zeal.
At the same time in recent days as they sought to settle the cases, they did everything they could to make these cases run efficiently
(ME: NO THEY DIDN'T THE CHURCH ATTORNEYS PUT UP OBSTRUCTIONS AT EVERY TURN!!!
IT’S THE MAD HATTER IN COURT AGAIN: NOTHING IS TRUE OR REALLY REAL JUST SAY THE RIGHT THING AND MOVE ON)
BOUCHER: Five years ago last week Gray Davis signed into law this opportunity for people to have justice.
(ALL THE PLAINTIFFS STAND UP, A WOMAN BREAKS OUT IN TEARS)
BOUCHER ASKS FOR A MOMENT OF SILENCE ON BEHALF OF VICTIMS WHO DIED BEFORE GETTING TO THIS POINT
. . . .
BOUCHER: We wouldn't be here today without Peter Lichtman who years ago took on this case. He is a tremendous bright light for this court system and the victims wouldn't be here without his efforts. Jeff McCoy when we first went to him said Why me? This changed his life.
BOUCHER: [TEARFUL] His kindness his gentleness his wisdom. . .I don't know how to tell the court how many times in the last weeks this settlement was dead.
B: With yarn and string and glue he kept it together [TEARFUL]
B: I’m usually very critical of insurance companies but I do want to acknowledge that ???
B: Most of the victims will not forgive the cardinal but I’ve seen him as he’s met with many clients and began to try to start the healing process. He took steps that I think he could only take and went to Rome several times in the last weeks to get ready to settle these cases. It was his decision to tell the church and lawyers to follow his guidance and his lead and as a result of that we were able to settle these case.
B: I hope that given his contact with clients he’ll become a leader in the world to prevent child abuse.
B: I acknowledge Tony DeMarco everyone owes him gratitude, everyone, the lawyers, the clients. My fellow lawyers (almost totally in tears) I think you --
HENNIGAN: I don't think Mr. Boucher meant to say our meeting persuaded me to settle these cases. We were trying to settle these cases since before the law was passed more than five years ago. It’s been a pleasure at times, frustrating at times, but I’ve always seen the talent of Ray Boucher
(Boucher is going around the room hugging and kissing people)
H: I will say I thank Mr. Boucher for his kind words about the cardinal. He visited extensively with over 70 victims and it changed us all, changed our perspective on what happened here.
H: I’d like to say that reform in the church was going to happen anyway and I can’t say that. These cases have forever reformed the archdiocese of Los Angeles and it will never be the same.
H: Thursday night we got one piece done and Friday night the rest of it done. Thanks to the lines of communication we'll still be working together through the document issues and the rest of the things…..
JUDGE: I think that competes our business here this morning.
(ME: OH MY GOD Mahony has been sitting there in a suit all this time. And some serious bling around the neck!!!)
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ALSO: Please visit my advertisers and come back often as the ads keep changing. It's fascinating to see what comes through here.
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END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
Friday, September 21, 2007
Friday Roundup: Where is the outrage? Plus, note to those who say childhood sex crime victims should just get over it.
*****
By Kay Ebeling
Yes it’s those Salesians, the Catholic order whose sole purpose since the 1800s has been to reach out and uplift young boys from poverty and disadvantaged homes.
It was the Salesians’ attorney who called low income boys from LA Salesian schools “10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents” as he tried to get civil lawsuits dismissed in LA Superior Court Wednesday, lawsuits filed by sex crime victims from Salesian run schools that were not part of the July 16th settlement but are on calendar for a jury trial November 5 in LA Superior Court.
This is from the firm profile of Foley & Lardner LLP, whose partner Stephen A. McFeely represents the Salesians.
"For more than 160 years, Foley & Lardner LLP has delivered legal services. Foley is dedicated to understanding industry issues, government policies, and client goals." Today they represent a religious order many of whose priests it turns out are pedophiles.
McFeely himself “focuses on commercial disputes in such areas as contracts, trade secrets, unfair competition and corporate control.” Today he defends the Salesians, who for more than 160 years have taken in vulnerable little boys to be raised, groomed and nurtured, by in many cases pedophile priests. And monsignors and bishops.
Apparently he’s going to do it by convincing a jury that the 10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents are a pack of liars. November 5 jury trial date, we’ll see. . .
Where Is The Outrage
By Anonymous and Making Its Way Round the Internet:
In three months it will be six years since the clergy sex scandal appeared in the Boston Globe featuring the perp John Geoghan.
Last May it has been 15 years since James Porter.
This year it has been 23 years since Gilbert Gauthe.
This year we found out that sexual abuse by Catholic priests has been going on for two centuries, documented in the book “Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes.”
So where is the outrage?
The bishops who transferred perps all around the world are still in place -- if they hvaen’t died.
Cardinal Law was rewarded by living a luxurious life at the Vatican.
Where is the Justice? --
No justice. The incredible fact that there are still sheep trouping into those churches, to me, is mind boggling. Are people that weak and mindless?
PERSONAL NOTE
That happened when you were five years old.
Why don't you just get over it?
People say to childhood sex crime victims, why don’t you get on with your lives. Truth is it follows you wherever you go and flies back in your face at the most unlikely times.
Take me entering the Superior Court building Wednesday morning. As usual before going through the security screener, I put everything that might set off the alarm on the tray, even my shoes with the metal trim. Walked through the metal detector in my stockings but still the buzzer went off.
The guy approached with the baton they run up and down alongside your body and I started shaking.
Soon not just shaking but literally whirling around outside my body watching myself shake.
It’s a state of disassociation I’ve been in so many times in my life I'm used to it, but it’s still mystifying.
The guard wanted to wave the wand up and down my body as they do, but I was twirling and trying to get away from him, moving so fast I didn't even know what I was doing until I’d done it. I ran back to the conveyor to get my bags and get away from him. I pointed to the safety pin on my blouse, as that must have been what was setting off the alarm.
“It’s the pin,” I assured him and tried to get away as fast as I could.
The guard yelled at me and two more joined him. I still couldn't hold still, because that disassociation thing was happening. As long as that Baton was coming near me I was spinning around uncontrollably watching myself shake.
Finally I held still long enough for the guard to run the baton by me, but I was still almost shouting, it’s just the safety pin, it’s the pin,
Panic, shaking, twirling. If I were to try to shoot the scene it would be distorted like heat waves on concrete.
I was halfway up the second escalator before I calmed down enough to realize that's not the first time this has happened. In fact this panic at the metal detector guy’s wand is why I’m so fanatical about getting everything metal off me in the first place before I enter the building.
Because I don't want that man coming towards me with that baton and running it up and down my body. Whatever it reminds me of I panic and disassociate just at the sight of that security guard coming towards me with a baton to check for metal on my body.
So no to those naysayers and poo-poo specialists who say why don’t you just get over it. It's been almost 55 years now. Obviously rape at age five by a priest affected me for the rest of my life.
It is not something you get over and just put behind you. So get on with my life I will.
Next week:
Hearing Wednesday September 26th
Motion to Compel Answers and Motion to compel deposition
of
Father Reina,
Michael J. Alvarez
Father William Schafer
Father Nicholas Reina,
& to compel the deposition of
Michael J. Alvarez &
Thomas Prenderville.
RE: BC308301 & BC308555.
City of Angels Lady will be there
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. The ads change often so keep coming back. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
More to Come. . .
By Kay Ebeling
Yes it’s those Salesians, the Catholic order whose sole purpose since the 1800s has been to reach out and uplift young boys from poverty and disadvantaged homes.
It was the Salesians’ attorney who called low income boys from LA Salesian schools “10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents” as he tried to get civil lawsuits dismissed in LA Superior Court Wednesday, lawsuits filed by sex crime victims from Salesian run schools that were not part of the July 16th settlement but are on calendar for a jury trial November 5 in LA Superior Court.
This is from the firm profile of Foley & Lardner LLP, whose partner Stephen A. McFeely represents the Salesians.
"For more than 160 years, Foley & Lardner LLP has delivered legal services. Foley is dedicated to understanding industry issues, government policies, and client goals." Today they represent a religious order many of whose priests it turns out are pedophiles.
McFeely himself “focuses on commercial disputes in such areas as contracts, trade secrets, unfair competition and corporate control.” Today he defends the Salesians, who for more than 160 years have taken in vulnerable little boys to be raised, groomed and nurtured, by in many cases pedophile priests. And monsignors and bishops.
Apparently he’s going to do it by convincing a jury that the 10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents are a pack of liars. November 5 jury trial date, we’ll see. . .
Where Is The Outrage
By Anonymous and Making Its Way Round the Internet:
In three months it will be six years since the clergy sex scandal appeared in the Boston Globe featuring the perp John Geoghan.
Last May it has been 15 years since James Porter.
This year it has been 23 years since Gilbert Gauthe.
This year we found out that sexual abuse by Catholic priests has been going on for two centuries, documented in the book “Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes.”
So where is the outrage?
The bishops who transferred perps all around the world are still in place -- if they hvaen’t died.
Cardinal Law was rewarded by living a luxurious life at the Vatican.
Where is the Justice? --
No justice. The incredible fact that there are still sheep trouping into those churches, to me, is mind boggling. Are people that weak and mindless?
PERSONAL NOTE
That happened when you were five years old.
Why don't you just get over it?
People say to childhood sex crime victims, why don’t you get on with your lives. Truth is it follows you wherever you go and flies back in your face at the most unlikely times.
Take me entering the Superior Court building Wednesday morning. As usual before going through the security screener, I put everything that might set off the alarm on the tray, even my shoes with the metal trim. Walked through the metal detector in my stockings but still the buzzer went off.
The guy approached with the baton they run up and down alongside your body and I started shaking.
Soon not just shaking but literally whirling around outside my body watching myself shake.
It’s a state of disassociation I’ve been in so many times in my life I'm used to it, but it’s still mystifying.
The guard wanted to wave the wand up and down my body as they do, but I was twirling and trying to get away from him, moving so fast I didn't even know what I was doing until I’d done it. I ran back to the conveyor to get my bags and get away from him. I pointed to the safety pin on my blouse, as that must have been what was setting off the alarm.
“It’s the pin,” I assured him and tried to get away as fast as I could.
The guard yelled at me and two more joined him. I still couldn't hold still, because that disassociation thing was happening. As long as that Baton was coming near me I was spinning around uncontrollably watching myself shake.
Finally I held still long enough for the guard to run the baton by me, but I was still almost shouting, it’s just the safety pin, it’s the pin,
Panic, shaking, twirling. If I were to try to shoot the scene it would be distorted like heat waves on concrete.
I was halfway up the second escalator before I calmed down enough to realize that's not the first time this has happened. In fact this panic at the metal detector guy’s wand is why I’m so fanatical about getting everything metal off me in the first place before I enter the building.
Because I don't want that man coming towards me with that baton and running it up and down my body. Whatever it reminds me of I panic and disassociate just at the sight of that security guard coming towards me with a baton to check for metal on my body.
So no to those naysayers and poo-poo specialists who say why don’t you just get over it. It's been almost 55 years now. Obviously rape at age five by a priest affected me for the rest of my life.
It is not something you get over and just put behind you. So get on with my life I will.
Next week:
Hearing Wednesday September 26th
Motion to Compel Answers and Motion to compel deposition
of
Father Reina,
Michael J. Alvarez
Father William Schafer
Father Nicholas Reina,
& to compel the deposition of
Michael J. Alvarez &
Thomas Prenderville.
RE: BC308301 & BC308555.
City of Angels Lady will be there
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. The ads change often so keep coming back. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
More to Come. . .
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Salesian Cases head for trial in LA November 5th and Church reveals Salesians’ concern for underprivileged boys in 2007
*****
By Kay Ebeling
From Catholic Encyclopedia: “In the first half of the nineteenth century Italy had not recovered from the French Revolution. Education, morality, and religion were then at their lowest ebb. To save the rising generation the Salesian Society was founded. In 1844 Don Bosco began to gather together poor and neglected boys. In 1845 the first night-school was opened at Valdocco. . .” and the Salesian tradition of bringing young boys up from poverty began.
A church attorney demonstrated that concern for poor young boys by Salesians in the 21st century this morning in court: “If these 10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents are to be believed, he says he saw Miani abusing a child. Then he says he saw the Archbishop. This goes past the credibility issue to the crux of the problem. Most of those men are long dead.”
JUDGE: I’m curious as to why you rely on Mr. (Plaintiff) for that information?”
CHURCH ATTORNEY MCPHEELY: “I’m not relying on Mr. P for much.”
That last line delivered with all the contempt you’d expect from an old retired Irish cop in a t-shirt hollering at his TV set. I have to admit I like this church attorney for the Salesians McPheely (McFeely?) as he doesn't even try to act smooth and cool, like Hennigan’s minions. No custom tailoring here, strictly Hollywood Suit Outlet and “I’m going to be as much of an asshole as I want to be” attitude.
This case is set for trial November 5. Outside court Plaintiff Attorney Tony DeMarco said, “I don't think they're going to settle this one.”
Salesian perpetrator priest Titian Miani is still alive as are other eye witnesses. All it takes is one hierarchy witness to get on the stand and the whole stream of crimes could come pouring out. Will Miani take the stand? Here is what happened in court today. (Copy and pasted here are notes I took at the hearing this morning re the Salesians cases¬. Now I’ve got to get back to work.)
JUDGE FROMHOLZ: This is motion for summary judgment filed by the Salesians. Tentative is to grant re two plaintiffs and deny re all others. Do the attorneys have anything to add?
CHURCH ATTORNEY MCPHEELY: I have several items. . . .it’s about the facts of this case. The court has denied the motion but has not addressed what may or may not have happened in Italy 60 years ago.
JUDGE: We're now talking about the camping trip in 1947. The tentative says there’s not adequate evidence of notice.
MCPHEELY: Well not only what happened 60 years ago in Italy, I do want to spend the court’s time talking about what happened 50 years ago or didn't happen. It’s not enough to say if can put on evidence you're not denied due process. I believe you can be denied due process if over the passage of time you have lost evidence and you are unable to put on evidence.
McPHEELY: If these 10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents are even to be believed. Mr P says he saw Miani abusing a child. He saw the Archbishop dressed up in his finest. This goes past the credibility issue and to the crux of the problem. Both of those men are long dead.
JUDGE: I’m curious as to why you rely on Mr. P for that information?”
McPHEELY: (CONTEMPTUOUSLY) I’m not relying on Mr. P for much. How can we ask Father DeM what did you do, what was the investigation and what was the archbishop doing here. Mr. P is telling one half of the story.
McPHEELY: If this case is allowed to go to trial, the plaintiffs will put on their story and the jury will have to make up the other half of the story 'cause we're not going to have it.
JUDGE: Mr. DeMarco?
DEMARCO: Father Miani is still alive as are numerous other employees. It’s not only one side of the story about Father Miani. Numerous other priests have not made any statement as to how many kids still exist. To figure out what the full story is -- we do have to put more forward than full speculation. They have to say there are no other witnesses. They have to do the research.
MCPHEELY: It’s not true we've failed to produce Father M. Counsel’s office dropped it three or four weeks ago. If they think he’s such an important witness they should have deposed him 3 or 4 weeks ago.
(Yes, we all know how cooperative the Salesians are when Plaintiffs try to conduct depositions. This has to be done in front of a jury.)
MCPHEELY: And another thing. The court has combined four plaintiffs who claim they were abused in the 1950s combined without notice to us.
McPHEELY: What happened is in his mediation statement Mr. H continued to add to the number of people who abused him. He added two guys in his mediation statement and interrogatories and in deposition named a fourth one yet unnamed.
We say as to anybody but Miani this case relative to Mr. H cannot go forward. There is nothing different from what happened here -- there was no amendment of the complaint to add [SOUNDS LIKE] diMaria or Lorezono as abusers and a fourth unnamed individuals.
JUDGE: They're not parties to the lawsuit.
MCPHEELY: That's not at all what I’m saying. Miani is not a defendant here and neither are the other alleged perpetrators. The issue is the complaint sought damages due to those three people.
He cannot put forth evidence of negligence on the part of B C and D. The only complainant on whom we can move forward in Miani.
JUDGE: Mr. DeMarco?
DEMARCO: We presented these facts to the defendants years ago. They've known the facts regarding the other priests for several years. They could have filed a demurrer. You can’t make it a cause of action now.
We have alleged negligence as to the Salesians and to St. Don Bosco High. Mr. H was a student there while several Salesians molested him. Our damages are for the several years of sexual abuse he endured there. This makes the case more egregious. It doesn't make it dismissible.
MCPHEELY: How on earth could we have demurred? The complaint only says abuse by Miani. Another issue I want to bring forward is maybe we haven’t made ourselves clear to the court. This has to do with the role of the high school. We've said there’s no evidence whatsoever of any negligence.
They say well yes there is, there’s this guy Clinton who testified and he testified a lot of stuff. But he testified he gave notice to Father [SOUNDS LIKE] Counsel well, your honor, we're talking about 340.1 unlawful sexual abuse.
The record is that he told Fr. Counsel about some quote funny stuff unquote. That is not a lawful sexual conduct and more to the point, Clinton admitted that he had no recollection whether he told a Father Counsel about the priest in other words named the name.
There is no evidence as to the high school as to notice, so summary judgment should be granted.
DEMARCO: Re Mr. F, he says he was present when the abuse took place. He’s an eye witness to the abuse. He said he told the brother and wasn’t believed.
There’s notice to the Salesian society. They run St. Don Bosco High. They're one and the same. You've got the same people running both institutions. How could they say the same people running both schools, somehow they're divided in half? I just don’t see it.
McFeely: We're talking about the high school, we're talking about Brother McG and mr. H. there was no Brother named Richard at that high school at this time, again something Mr. G told us about.
DeMarco: He said he believes the name was Richard. We're talking about memories and names. There was a statement and there are two specific exhibits we attached
The Father M deposition exhibit 18. Plus relevant sections of Catholic directories that clearly lay out that they operated the schools and that Father ? was director there.
MCPHEELY: Pay attention. If there were a Richard there and there wasn’t he was a low level novice training to be a priest. Notice to him is not notice to anybody. They're claiming “some person I can’t identify saw something.”
(This guy seems to respect novice priests about as much as he respects the poverty stricken boys who the Salesians supposedly serve.)
DEMARCO: Your Honor, that's certainly a point they can raise to the jury.
Maybe they will on November 5th? Stay tuned.
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. The ads change every few hours so come back and visit again. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
More to Come. . .
By Kay Ebeling
From Catholic Encyclopedia: “In the first half of the nineteenth century Italy had not recovered from the French Revolution. Education, morality, and religion were then at their lowest ebb. To save the rising generation the Salesian Society was founded. In 1844 Don Bosco began to gather together poor and neglected boys. In 1845 the first night-school was opened at Valdocco. . .” and the Salesian tradition of bringing young boys up from poverty began.
A church attorney demonstrated that concern for poor young boys by Salesians in the 21st century this morning in court: “If these 10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents are to be believed, he says he saw Miani abusing a child. Then he says he saw the Archbishop. This goes past the credibility issue to the crux of the problem. Most of those men are long dead.”
JUDGE: I’m curious as to why you rely on Mr. (Plaintiff) for that information?”
CHURCH ATTORNEY MCPHEELY: “I’m not relying on Mr. P for much.”
That last line delivered with all the contempt you’d expect from an old retired Irish cop in a t-shirt hollering at his TV set. I have to admit I like this church attorney for the Salesians McPheely (McFeely?) as he doesn't even try to act smooth and cool, like Hennigan’s minions. No custom tailoring here, strictly Hollywood Suit Outlet and “I’m going to be as much of an asshole as I want to be” attitude.
This case is set for trial November 5. Outside court Plaintiff Attorney Tony DeMarco said, “I don't think they're going to settle this one.”
Salesian perpetrator priest Titian Miani is still alive as are other eye witnesses. All it takes is one hierarchy witness to get on the stand and the whole stream of crimes could come pouring out. Will Miani take the stand? Here is what happened in court today. (Copy and pasted here are notes I took at the hearing this morning re the Salesians cases¬. Now I’ve got to get back to work.)
JUDGE FROMHOLZ: This is motion for summary judgment filed by the Salesians. Tentative is to grant re two plaintiffs and deny re all others. Do the attorneys have anything to add?
CHURCH ATTORNEY MCPHEELY: I have several items. . . .it’s about the facts of this case. The court has denied the motion but has not addressed what may or may not have happened in Italy 60 years ago.
JUDGE: We're now talking about the camping trip in 1947. The tentative says there’s not adequate evidence of notice.
MCPHEELY: Well not only what happened 60 years ago in Italy, I do want to spend the court’s time talking about what happened 50 years ago or didn't happen. It’s not enough to say if can put on evidence you're not denied due process. I believe you can be denied due process if over the passage of time you have lost evidence and you are unable to put on evidence.
McPHEELY: If these 10 year old now 60 year old juvenile delinquents are even to be believed. Mr P says he saw Miani abusing a child. He saw the Archbishop dressed up in his finest. This goes past the credibility issue and to the crux of the problem. Both of those men are long dead.
JUDGE: I’m curious as to why you rely on Mr. P for that information?”
McPHEELY: (CONTEMPTUOUSLY) I’m not relying on Mr. P for much. How can we ask Father DeM what did you do, what was the investigation and what was the archbishop doing here. Mr. P is telling one half of the story.
McPHEELY: If this case is allowed to go to trial, the plaintiffs will put on their story and the jury will have to make up the other half of the story 'cause we're not going to have it.
JUDGE: Mr. DeMarco?
DEMARCO: Father Miani is still alive as are numerous other employees. It’s not only one side of the story about Father Miani. Numerous other priests have not made any statement as to how many kids still exist. To figure out what the full story is -- we do have to put more forward than full speculation. They have to say there are no other witnesses. They have to do the research.
MCPHEELY: It’s not true we've failed to produce Father M. Counsel’s office dropped it three or four weeks ago. If they think he’s such an important witness they should have deposed him 3 or 4 weeks ago.
(Yes, we all know how cooperative the Salesians are when Plaintiffs try to conduct depositions. This has to be done in front of a jury.)
MCPHEELY: And another thing. The court has combined four plaintiffs who claim they were abused in the 1950s combined without notice to us.
McPHEELY: What happened is in his mediation statement Mr. H continued to add to the number of people who abused him. He added two guys in his mediation statement and interrogatories and in deposition named a fourth one yet unnamed.
We say as to anybody but Miani this case relative to Mr. H cannot go forward. There is nothing different from what happened here -- there was no amendment of the complaint to add [SOUNDS LIKE] diMaria or Lorezono as abusers and a fourth unnamed individuals.
JUDGE: They're not parties to the lawsuit.
MCPHEELY: That's not at all what I’m saying. Miani is not a defendant here and neither are the other alleged perpetrators. The issue is the complaint sought damages due to those three people.
He cannot put forth evidence of negligence on the part of B C and D. The only complainant on whom we can move forward in Miani.
JUDGE: Mr. DeMarco?
DEMARCO: We presented these facts to the defendants years ago. They've known the facts regarding the other priests for several years. They could have filed a demurrer. You can’t make it a cause of action now.
We have alleged negligence as to the Salesians and to St. Don Bosco High. Mr. H was a student there while several Salesians molested him. Our damages are for the several years of sexual abuse he endured there. This makes the case more egregious. It doesn't make it dismissible.
MCPHEELY: How on earth could we have demurred? The complaint only says abuse by Miani. Another issue I want to bring forward is maybe we haven’t made ourselves clear to the court. This has to do with the role of the high school. We've said there’s no evidence whatsoever of any negligence.
They say well yes there is, there’s this guy Clinton who testified and he testified a lot of stuff. But he testified he gave notice to Father [SOUNDS LIKE] Counsel well, your honor, we're talking about 340.1 unlawful sexual abuse.
The record is that he told Fr. Counsel about some quote funny stuff unquote. That is not a lawful sexual conduct and more to the point, Clinton admitted that he had no recollection whether he told a Father Counsel about the priest in other words named the name.
There is no evidence as to the high school as to notice, so summary judgment should be granted.
DEMARCO: Re Mr. F, he says he was present when the abuse took place. He’s an eye witness to the abuse. He said he told the brother and wasn’t believed.
There’s notice to the Salesian society. They run St. Don Bosco High. They're one and the same. You've got the same people running both institutions. How could they say the same people running both schools, somehow they're divided in half? I just don’t see it.
McFeely: We're talking about the high school, we're talking about Brother McG and mr. H. there was no Brother named Richard at that high school at this time, again something Mr. G told us about.
DeMarco: He said he believes the name was Richard. We're talking about memories and names. There was a statement and there are two specific exhibits we attached
The Father M deposition exhibit 18. Plus relevant sections of Catholic directories that clearly lay out that they operated the schools and that Father ? was director there.
MCPHEELY: Pay attention. If there were a Richard there and there wasn’t he was a low level novice training to be a priest. Notice to him is not notice to anybody. They're claiming “some person I can’t identify saw something.”
(This guy seems to respect novice priests about as much as he respects the poverty stricken boys who the Salesians supposedly serve.)
DEMARCO: Your Honor, that's certainly a point they can raise to the jury.
Maybe they will on November 5th? Stay tuned.
*****$$$???!!!
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END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
More to Come. . .
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Salesians fight hard and heavy, with onslaught of motions, re summary judgment in Titian Miani cases, hearing Wednesday morning
*****
By Kay Ebeling
Hearings continue in the Clergy Cases in Los Angeles as Catholic orders such as the Claretians, Oblates, Bendectines, Salesians, and Piarists try to get their share of liability for 50 years of pedophile priests in Southern California dismissed in court.
Wednesday September 19th lawyers will argue a motion for summary judgment of the Salesians’ share of responsibility for 50 years of sex crimes carried out in the Southern California Catholic Church, at a hearing in Dept 20 of Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Fromholz still presiding.
Salesian priest Titian Miani preyed on children in Los Angeles from 1957 until he was arrested in 2003. “The Salesians are the third largest Religious Order in the world and the most aggressive defense we've seen,” a plaintiff attorney told me.
Remember the deposition where church attorneys rep blocked the door to keep plaintiffs from questioning an aging priest? That was regarding Titian Miani. Salesians have worked doubly hard to block depositions and prevent discovery of documents in the Clergy Cases Los Angeles 2007.
Couldn’t get any of the documents to open in Room 106 Tuesday morning but just from reading the titles of documents you can follow the fight the Salesians’ Order has fought since June 18 when it filed the motion for summary judgment being argued Wednesday morning.
DOCUMENTS FILED ON ONE MIANI (SALESIANS) CASE SINCE JUNE 18 2007
June 18 2007
By Defendant
Declaraion of Father Maurizio Girolami in support of Defendants the Salesian Society and St. John Bosco High school’s motion for summary judgment of in the alternative summary adjudication.
8 pages
By defendant
Proof of service of Defendant Doe 1’s motion for Summary judgment
1 page
By Defendant
Declaration of Jeffrey S. Koenig in support of motion for summary judgment
1 page
(this means even if you could open it, it would only be the title page, a trick the church uses to keep its public documents private.)
By Defendant
Declaration of Rev. David T. Purdy in support of Salesian Society and St. John Bosco motion for summary judgment
4 pages
By Defendant
The Salesia Society and St. John Bosco High school memorandum of pointsi and authorities in support of motion for summary judgment
1 page
By Defendant
Separate Statement of Undisputed amterial Facts in support of motion for summary judgment
1 page
By Defendant
Declaration of Leila Nourani in support of Defendants’ motion for summary judgment
(Leila Nourani also files a similar statement in support of summary judgment for BC308555)
356 pages
By Defendant
Declaration of Monsignor Gabriel Gonzales in support of Defendant Doe 1’s motion for summary judgment
Also for BC308555
1 page (right, 1 page)
By Defendant
Statement of Undisputed Facts in support of Defendant Doe 1’s mooj for summary judgment of BC308555 and BC308301
1 page
By Plaintiff
Volume 1 of 4 exhibits filed under seasl
Motion for leave to allege punitive damages
Filed on the same date as defendants’ motion for summary judgment in these cases.
2 more documents representing a long list of plaintiffs filing exhibit under seal
By Defendant
Proof of service of Motion for Summary judgment and supporting documents
By Defendant
Declaration of Reverend Ralph Murphy SDB, in support of defendants the Salesian Society and st. John Bosco High school
By Defendant
Declaration of Father Maurizio Girolami in support of motion for summary judgment by Salesians
8 pages
By defendant
Declaration of Michael J. Alvarez in support of Defendants’ the salesians motion for summary judgment
3 ‘ages
By defendant
The Salesian Society Notice of Motion for summary judgment
5 pages
By defendant
Declaration of Rev. Ralph Murphy, SDB in support of summary judgment motion
2 pages
By Plaintiffs
Notice of filing exhitis under seal
2 pages
AND THAT'S JUST FOR JUNE 18TH
June 19
By Defendant
Defendant Salesian Socity’s motion to quash the amended deposition notice of Lester Howse
3 pages
June 25
Plaintiffs
Four more motions
Two for leave to allege punitive damages
Two to continue hearing re motion for punitive damages
4 pages each
The hearing will be Wednesday September 19
July 2
By defendant
Proof of service of defendant Salesian Society’s application to enlaarge page limit for defendants’ memorandum of points & authorities
3 pages
Plus two more motions in support of extending the page limit
July 9
By defendant
Declaration of Paul M. Balestracci in response to motion for an order to compel complaianc with non-party deposition and records subpoena
(I really want to see this, will come back and dive later this week and hopefully the documents will open again by then)
10 pages
July 11
By Plaintiff
Reply to defendant’s opposition to plaintiffs motion for leave to allege punitive damages
39 pages
July 11
By Plaintiff
Responses to defendants’ Evidentiary Objections re Motion for leave to allege punitive damages
5 pages
July 12
Either plaintiff or defendant, unable to tell, but probably plaintiff
Notice of taking Deposition of Barbara Buchanan
7 pages
plus
Commission to take out of state deposition of Barbara Buchanan
2 pages
July 24
By defendant
Titian Miani’s Privilege Log
68 pages
Will definitely come back to look at this
July 25
By Plaintiffs
Motion for an order to compel complaiance with non party deposition and records of subpoena
1 page
July 27
By defendant
Supplemental Opposition to plaintiffs ex parte application re motion for summary judgment hearing
6 pages
July 30, 2007
By Judge
Certificate of Referee
1 page
August 1
By judge
Stipulation and order appointing referee pursuant to CCP Section 638
5 pages
August 9
By Plaintiffs
Ex parte application for an order shortening time to bring motion to compel answers and production of documents
369 pages
August 13
By Plaintiffs
Ex parte application for an order shortening time to bring motion to compel answers and production of documents
177 pages
Several motions from both sides re continuing hearings and trial dates.
August 15
By defendant
Opposition to Plaintiffs motion to compel answers and production of documents
12 pages
By defendant
Declaration of Courtney Henning in support of defendants opposition to motion to compel answers
58 pages
August 17
By plaintiffs
Notice of Deposition of Dr. Vard Miller with Production of documents required
8 pages
Hearing tomorrow Wednesday September 19th re motion for summary judgment declaring the Salesians free of guilt and liability.
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
On Tuesday attorneys for both sides appeared before the judge for a motion to continue a trial date re another Order brought attorneys for both sides in front of the judge. The new trial date is now November 12. City of Angels Lady is perplexed as to why a motion to continue a trial date requires attorneys for both defendants and plaintiffs to appear in front of the judge. To set a new trial date? We will dig for an answer to that question and many others in the days ahead.
More to come. . .
By Kay Ebeling
Hearings continue in the Clergy Cases in Los Angeles as Catholic orders such as the Claretians, Oblates, Bendectines, Salesians, and Piarists try to get their share of liability for 50 years of pedophile priests in Southern California dismissed in court.
Wednesday September 19th lawyers will argue a motion for summary judgment of the Salesians’ share of responsibility for 50 years of sex crimes carried out in the Southern California Catholic Church, at a hearing in Dept 20 of Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Fromholz still presiding.
Salesian priest Titian Miani preyed on children in Los Angeles from 1957 until he was arrested in 2003. “The Salesians are the third largest Religious Order in the world and the most aggressive defense we've seen,” a plaintiff attorney told me.
Remember the deposition where church attorneys rep blocked the door to keep plaintiffs from questioning an aging priest? That was regarding Titian Miani. Salesians have worked doubly hard to block depositions and prevent discovery of documents in the Clergy Cases Los Angeles 2007.
Couldn’t get any of the documents to open in Room 106 Tuesday morning but just from reading the titles of documents you can follow the fight the Salesians’ Order has fought since June 18 when it filed the motion for summary judgment being argued Wednesday morning.
DOCUMENTS FILED ON ONE MIANI (SALESIANS) CASE SINCE JUNE 18 2007
June 18 2007
By Defendant
Declaraion of Father Maurizio Girolami in support of Defendants the Salesian Society and St. John Bosco High school’s motion for summary judgment of in the alternative summary adjudication.
8 pages
By defendant
Proof of service of Defendant Doe 1’s motion for Summary judgment
1 page
By Defendant
Declaration of Jeffrey S. Koenig in support of motion for summary judgment
1 page
(this means even if you could open it, it would only be the title page, a trick the church uses to keep its public documents private.)
By Defendant
Declaration of Rev. David T. Purdy in support of Salesian Society and St. John Bosco motion for summary judgment
4 pages
By Defendant
The Salesia Society and St. John Bosco High school memorandum of pointsi and authorities in support of motion for summary judgment
1 page
By Defendant
Separate Statement of Undisputed amterial Facts in support of motion for summary judgment
1 page
By Defendant
Declaration of Leila Nourani in support of Defendants’ motion for summary judgment
(Leila Nourani also files a similar statement in support of summary judgment for BC308555)
356 pages
By Defendant
Declaration of Monsignor Gabriel Gonzales in support of Defendant Doe 1’s motion for summary judgment
Also for BC308555
1 page (right, 1 page)
By Defendant
Statement of Undisputed Facts in support of Defendant Doe 1’s mooj for summary judgment of BC308555 and BC308301
1 page
By Plaintiff
Volume 1 of 4 exhibits filed under seasl
Motion for leave to allege punitive damages
Filed on the same date as defendants’ motion for summary judgment in these cases.
2 more documents representing a long list of plaintiffs filing exhibit under seal
By Defendant
Proof of service of Motion for Summary judgment and supporting documents
By Defendant
Declaration of Reverend Ralph Murphy SDB, in support of defendants the Salesian Society and st. John Bosco High school
By Defendant
Declaration of Father Maurizio Girolami in support of motion for summary judgment by Salesians
8 pages
By defendant
Declaration of Michael J. Alvarez in support of Defendants’ the salesians motion for summary judgment
3 ‘ages
By defendant
The Salesian Society Notice of Motion for summary judgment
5 pages
By defendant
Declaration of Rev. Ralph Murphy, SDB in support of summary judgment motion
2 pages
By Plaintiffs
Notice of filing exhitis under seal
2 pages
AND THAT'S JUST FOR JUNE 18TH
June 19
By Defendant
Defendant Salesian Socity’s motion to quash the amended deposition notice of Lester Howse
3 pages
June 25
Plaintiffs
Four more motions
Two for leave to allege punitive damages
Two to continue hearing re motion for punitive damages
4 pages each
The hearing will be Wednesday September 19
July 2
By defendant
Proof of service of defendant Salesian Society’s application to enlaarge page limit for defendants’ memorandum of points & authorities
3 pages
Plus two more motions in support of extending the page limit
July 9
By defendant
Declaration of Paul M. Balestracci in response to motion for an order to compel complaianc with non-party deposition and records subpoena
(I really want to see this, will come back and dive later this week and hopefully the documents will open again by then)
10 pages
July 11
By Plaintiff
Reply to defendant’s opposition to plaintiffs motion for leave to allege punitive damages
39 pages
July 11
By Plaintiff
Responses to defendants’ Evidentiary Objections re Motion for leave to allege punitive damages
5 pages
July 12
Either plaintiff or defendant, unable to tell, but probably plaintiff
Notice of taking Deposition of Barbara Buchanan
7 pages
plus
Commission to take out of state deposition of Barbara Buchanan
2 pages
July 24
By defendant
Titian Miani’s Privilege Log
68 pages
Will definitely come back to look at this
July 25
By Plaintiffs
Motion for an order to compel complaiance with non party deposition and records of subpoena
1 page
July 27
By defendant
Supplemental Opposition to plaintiffs ex parte application re motion for summary judgment hearing
6 pages
July 30, 2007
By Judge
Certificate of Referee
1 page
August 1
By judge
Stipulation and order appointing referee pursuant to CCP Section 638
5 pages
August 9
By Plaintiffs
Ex parte application for an order shortening time to bring motion to compel answers and production of documents
369 pages
August 13
By Plaintiffs
Ex parte application for an order shortening time to bring motion to compel answers and production of documents
177 pages
Several motions from both sides re continuing hearings and trial dates.
August 15
By defendant
Opposition to Plaintiffs motion to compel answers and production of documents
12 pages
By defendant
Declaration of Courtney Henning in support of defendants opposition to motion to compel answers
58 pages
August 17
By plaintiffs
Notice of Deposition of Dr. Vard Miller with Production of documents required
8 pages
Hearing tomorrow Wednesday September 19th re motion for summary judgment declaring the Salesians free of guilt and liability.
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
On Tuesday attorneys for both sides appeared before the judge for a motion to continue a trial date re another Order brought attorneys for both sides in front of the judge. The new trial date is now November 12. City of Angels Lady is perplexed as to why a motion to continue a trial date requires attorneys for both defendants and plaintiffs to appear in front of the judge. To set a new trial date? We will dig for an answer to that question and many others in the days ahead.
More to come. . .
Opinion piece the LA Times should have run, as they cover church’s “loss” of Sisters of Bethany convent more than priest sex crimes that caused loss:
*****
By Kay Ebeling
Has the Times covered sex crimes in the Catholic Church in the last three years? Which is more important, sex crimes of priests over a 50-year period or the closing of a Santa Barbara convent? Which story deserve ongoing coverage?
Think we get balanced coverage in the Times? Here is an editorial by veteran plaintiff attorney Timothy Hale that LA Times editors chose not to run. This one opinion piece delivers more facts than you've read in the last three years in the Times about sex crimes in the Catholic Church. Tim Hale’s op-ed piece that should have been in the LA Times is published below, followed by the original Times editorial, plus the type of articles they're choosing to run on the subject instead:
Regarding your September 11 Opinion "The Costs of Church Scandal," there's a bit more to the story regarding the sale of the Sisters of Bethany convent in Santa Barbara.
The convent at issue is next door to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish.
Our Lady was home to Father Matthew Kelly from approximately 1943-52, and from 1956-1971. Father Kelly was one of the most prolific abusers of children in the history of the clergy abuse scandal in Santa Barbara. This is no small feat given that St. Anthony's Seminary and the Old Mission Santa Barbara have been the residences of at least 23 priest-perpetrators since 1960. However, with 10 confirmed victims, and undoubtedly many more who will never come forward, Father Kelly is exceeded in Santa Barbara only by the Franciscans' Father Robert Van Handel (17 confirmed victims) and Father Mario Cimmarrusti (22 confirmed victims).
My law firm, along with attorney R. Thomas Griffith, represented 6 of the 7 victims of Father Kelly who are part of the recent global settlement with the Archdiocese. During the litigation of the Father Kelly cases the Archbishop's attorneys deposed the 86 year-old mother of one of my clients. Kelly sexually abused her son from 1958 to 1960. She testified during her deposition that in the late 1950s she told two Sisters of Bethany who lived in the convent that Father Kelly would call and ask for her son, and that Father Kelly was taking boys to his cabin (the location where Kelly abused many of his victims). She also told them she was concerned about Father Kelly taking her son to the cabin, that she was worried about Kelly's level of interest in her son, and that she did not understand why Kelly was so focused on her son. She also testified they told her not to worry because Kelly was a priest. Finally, she testified that after her son admitted to her that Kelly had abused him, she stopped attending mass at Our Lady, prompting the sisters to tell her she should forgive Father Kelly.
One of these two Sisters of Bethany is still alive. I took her deposition shortly after the deposition of my client's mother. That Sister acknowledged knowing my client's mother, but denied ever discussing Father Kelly with her. In fact, I asked the Sister about every fact to which my client's mother testified above. The Sister denied outright each and every allegation testified to by my client's mother.
It is also worth noting that based on the assignment history provided in your article for Sister Angela Escalera, she began her assignment in the convent in 1964, before or during Father Kelly's abuse of 4 of our 6 clients. Needless to say Sister Angela would have been a critical witness in these lawsuits, and we would have deposed her immediately had we known of her assignment history. However, the Sister of Bethany I did depose denied any knowledge of the existence of any still living Sister of Bethany who was assigned to the convent before 1973.
Had these matters gone to trial, the testimony of the deposed Sister and of my client's mother likely would have been the subject of a she-said/she-said discussion by the jury. Having questioned and observed both women testify, I strongly believe my client's 86 year-old mother would have been the far more credible witness. Your readers might be interested to know this when considering whether the Sisters should be considered part of the "collateral damage" you reference as a result of the civil lawsuits.
Timothy C. Hale, Esq.
Nye, Peabody, Stirling & Hale, LLP ,
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Here is the original September 11th LA Times editorial:
Opinion : Editorials
The Catholic Church's divestiture to pay for abuse settlements means good works will go undone.
September 11, 2007
Obviously, the principal victims of abuse by the Catholic clergy are the members of the faithful, many of them children, who were betrayed by wolves in shepherds' clothing. But the civil lawsuits that have provided those victims with a measure of compensation also create collateral damage, even when steps are taken to protect core church activities.
Insurance policies provide the church with only some of the resources it needs to settle these claims. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, which on Friday agreed to pay nearly $200 million to victims of sexually abusive priests and church workers, said it will defray much of the rest of the costs through loans and the sale of assets. A diocesan official said there were no plans to close parishes or schools, but Bishop Robert Brom conceded that there will be "some damaging consequences for the mission of the church in this diocese."
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which has agreed to pay $764 million to victims of abuse, has engaged in similar damage control, saying it will sell off non-parish property, including its administrative headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard. But an affecting article last week by Times staff writer Rebecca Trounson demonstrated that sales of "assets" can have human consequences.
As part of its divestiture to pay for abuse settlements, the archdiocese is selling a property in Santa Barbara that has served as a convent for the Sisters of Bethany since it was built in 1952. The decision means the displacement of three nuns who have been living rent-free in the house while ministering to local immigrants. One of the nuns, Sister Angela Escalera, has lived at the convent for 43 years.
The nuns in Santa Barbara and the people they serve won't be the only human beings affected by these financial constraints. The ripple effect inevitably includes those who would have benefited from different uses of the church's holdings -- or from the generosity of parishioners who have withheld contributions (or stopped coming to church) because of the scandal.
The impoverishment of the church compounds the tragedy defined by damaged lives, disillusioned believers and blameless priests who now must minister under a cloud of suspicion created by their faithless colleagues. But the blame for this state of affairs belongs not to the victims or their lawyers but to an ecclesiastical culture that embraced the false gospel of "least said, soonest mended."
Meanwhile what's being reported from Santa Barbara in the LA Times today?
(from bishopaccountability.org)
Save the Eastside's Sisters of Bethany
Campaign Launched to Save Nuns' Home; Plus, Meeting Harry Potter, Finding Al Steinman, and Defending Wendy
By Barney Brantingham
Santa Barbara Independent
September 11, 2007
http://www.independent.com/news/2007/sep/11/save-eastsides-sisters-bethany/
Nuns' S.O.S.: A small group of Santa Barbarans are planning to huddle this week and ponder how to save the Sisters of Bethany from being evicted from their Eastside convent.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese has the small convent on its list to be sold to help cover costs of settling sexual abuse suits against priests. The three nuns just learned that they've been ordered to vacate the small building next to Our Lady of Guadalupe by December 31.
Just where they will go remains unclear. But a group that includes businessman Anthony Dal Bello plans to meet Wednesday to discuss an attempt to either buy the property or rent other space.
Sister Angela of the Sisters of Bethany.
Photo by Sue De Lapa
I broke the story Thursday in The Independent and the L.A. Times featured the story on the front page of their California section on Friday. Sister Angela, 69, who suffers from diabetes and needs a walker to get around, has also been interviewed on L.A. radio and, when I visited Monday, was being interviewed by Spanish language TV.
The plight of the Sisters of Bethany, a small order with three convents in Southern California and others in Latin America, has won the sympathy of the non-Catholic public as well. The Santa Barbara Sisters of Bethany have lived among the Eastside poor for more than a half-century and worked with the needy. "The support from all over has been overwhelming," Sister Superior Angela told me Monday. Eviction to pay for the sins of the priests is "wrong, it's immoral, and it's unholy," said a prominent Santa Barbaran who asked that his name not be used. He's dubbed the impromptu committee: "SOS," Save Our Sisters.
(Coincidentally, Our Lady of Guadalupe is the same church where Father Matthew Kelly was a priest. Kelly, as was reported as The Independent's cover story last week, allegedly molested many boys while simultaneously being a hero of the Eastside. See Nick Welsh's story on Kelley here.)
Rosemary Escalera Gutierrez, real-life sister of Sister Angela, has fired off blistering e-mails. One email explained: Archdiocese spokesperson Tod Tamberg says that he too is paying the price for the pedophile priest scandal, that the Catholic faithful have to share in the price for the sins of the few. His price was not getting a raise. Gee, how does that compare to losing your house and job? Tamberg also says that the Bethany order is sure to "step in" and help the transition. That is simply sugar coating. The fact is that the archdiocese is doing nothing for the sisters. As far as they are concerned, the evicted nuns are on their own. If the church engaged in relocating the accused pedophile priests, some of whom used the transfer to continue their evil acts on new victims, why can't it relocate these nuns to continue their good work? Finally, as a spokesperson, will Tamberg explain why the eviction letter is dated June 28, but not delivered until August 28? As Sr. Angela says, the worst thing is the cold detachment from the hierarchy. If they give a damn about the Sisters it's a well kept secret, for they have heard not one word of compassion from the archdiocesan personnel nor from the local "prince of the church," Bishop Curry of Santa Barbara.
"Thanks for writing the article on the Sisters of Bethany," e-mailed Dal Bello to me. "I have had the honor of knowing the Sisters since they first came to Santa Barbara in1951.This committee will study the pros and cons of purchasing the convent where the Sisters presently reside or finding alternative housing in Santa Barbara. After all the work the Sisters have done for this community in the past 55 years it is time for the community to come to their assistance." If you'd like to help, you can reach Dal Bello at 565-3730.
-----
You tell me. Has the Times even begun to cover the story of sex crimes in the Catholic Church in the last three years? Considering how many people are affected by the two issues, sex crimes of priests and the closing of Sisters of Bethany convent, which story deserves ongoing coverage?
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. Google changes the ads regularly. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
By Kay Ebeling
Has the Times covered sex crimes in the Catholic Church in the last three years? Which is more important, sex crimes of priests over a 50-year period or the closing of a Santa Barbara convent? Which story deserve ongoing coverage?
Think we get balanced coverage in the Times? Here is an editorial by veteran plaintiff attorney Timothy Hale that LA Times editors chose not to run. This one opinion piece delivers more facts than you've read in the last three years in the Times about sex crimes in the Catholic Church. Tim Hale’s op-ed piece that should have been in the LA Times is published below, followed by the original Times editorial, plus the type of articles they're choosing to run on the subject instead:
Regarding your September 11 Opinion "The Costs of Church Scandal," there's a bit more to the story regarding the sale of the Sisters of Bethany convent in Santa Barbara.
The convent at issue is next door to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish.
Our Lady was home to Father Matthew Kelly from approximately 1943-52, and from 1956-1971. Father Kelly was one of the most prolific abusers of children in the history of the clergy abuse scandal in Santa Barbara. This is no small feat given that St. Anthony's Seminary and the Old Mission Santa Barbara have been the residences of at least 23 priest-perpetrators since 1960. However, with 10 confirmed victims, and undoubtedly many more who will never come forward, Father Kelly is exceeded in Santa Barbara only by the Franciscans' Father Robert Van Handel (17 confirmed victims) and Father Mario Cimmarrusti (22 confirmed victims).
My law firm, along with attorney R. Thomas Griffith, represented 6 of the 7 victims of Father Kelly who are part of the recent global settlement with the Archdiocese. During the litigation of the Father Kelly cases the Archbishop's attorneys deposed the 86 year-old mother of one of my clients. Kelly sexually abused her son from 1958 to 1960. She testified during her deposition that in the late 1950s she told two Sisters of Bethany who lived in the convent that Father Kelly would call and ask for her son, and that Father Kelly was taking boys to his cabin (the location where Kelly abused many of his victims). She also told them she was concerned about Father Kelly taking her son to the cabin, that she was worried about Kelly's level of interest in her son, and that she did not understand why Kelly was so focused on her son. She also testified they told her not to worry because Kelly was a priest. Finally, she testified that after her son admitted to her that Kelly had abused him, she stopped attending mass at Our Lady, prompting the sisters to tell her she should forgive Father Kelly.
One of these two Sisters of Bethany is still alive. I took her deposition shortly after the deposition of my client's mother. That Sister acknowledged knowing my client's mother, but denied ever discussing Father Kelly with her. In fact, I asked the Sister about every fact to which my client's mother testified above. The Sister denied outright each and every allegation testified to by my client's mother.
It is also worth noting that based on the assignment history provided in your article for Sister Angela Escalera, she began her assignment in the convent in 1964, before or during Father Kelly's abuse of 4 of our 6 clients. Needless to say Sister Angela would have been a critical witness in these lawsuits, and we would have deposed her immediately had we known of her assignment history. However, the Sister of Bethany I did depose denied any knowledge of the existence of any still living Sister of Bethany who was assigned to the convent before 1973.
Had these matters gone to trial, the testimony of the deposed Sister and of my client's mother likely would have been the subject of a she-said/she-said discussion by the jury. Having questioned and observed both women testify, I strongly believe my client's 86 year-old mother would have been the far more credible witness. Your readers might be interested to know this when considering whether the Sisters should be considered part of the "collateral damage" you reference as a result of the civil lawsuits.
Timothy C. Hale, Esq.
Nye, Peabody, Stirling & Hale, LLP ,
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Here is the original September 11th LA Times editorial:
Opinion : Editorials
The Catholic Church's divestiture to pay for abuse settlements means good works will go undone.
September 11, 2007
Obviously, the principal victims of abuse by the Catholic clergy are the members of the faithful, many of them children, who were betrayed by wolves in shepherds' clothing. But the civil lawsuits that have provided those victims with a measure of compensation also create collateral damage, even when steps are taken to protect core church activities.
Insurance policies provide the church with only some of the resources it needs to settle these claims. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, which on Friday agreed to pay nearly $200 million to victims of sexually abusive priests and church workers, said it will defray much of the rest of the costs through loans and the sale of assets. A diocesan official said there were no plans to close parishes or schools, but Bishop Robert Brom conceded that there will be "some damaging consequences for the mission of the church in this diocese."
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which has agreed to pay $764 million to victims of abuse, has engaged in similar damage control, saying it will sell off non-parish property, including its administrative headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard. But an affecting article last week by Times staff writer Rebecca Trounson demonstrated that sales of "assets" can have human consequences.
As part of its divestiture to pay for abuse settlements, the archdiocese is selling a property in Santa Barbara that has served as a convent for the Sisters of Bethany since it was built in 1952. The decision means the displacement of three nuns who have been living rent-free in the house while ministering to local immigrants. One of the nuns, Sister Angela Escalera, has lived at the convent for 43 years.
The nuns in Santa Barbara and the people they serve won't be the only human beings affected by these financial constraints. The ripple effect inevitably includes those who would have benefited from different uses of the church's holdings -- or from the generosity of parishioners who have withheld contributions (or stopped coming to church) because of the scandal.
The impoverishment of the church compounds the tragedy defined by damaged lives, disillusioned believers and blameless priests who now must minister under a cloud of suspicion created by their faithless colleagues. But the blame for this state of affairs belongs not to the victims or their lawyers but to an ecclesiastical culture that embraced the false gospel of "least said, soonest mended."
Meanwhile what's being reported from Santa Barbara in the LA Times today?
(from bishopaccountability.org)
Save the Eastside's Sisters of Bethany
Campaign Launched to Save Nuns' Home; Plus, Meeting Harry Potter, Finding Al Steinman, and Defending Wendy
By Barney Brantingham
Santa Barbara Independent
September 11, 2007
http://www.independent.com/news/2007/sep/11/save-eastsides-sisters-bethany/
Nuns' S.O.S.: A small group of Santa Barbarans are planning to huddle this week and ponder how to save the Sisters of Bethany from being evicted from their Eastside convent.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese has the small convent on its list to be sold to help cover costs of settling sexual abuse suits against priests. The three nuns just learned that they've been ordered to vacate the small building next to Our Lady of Guadalupe by December 31.
Just where they will go remains unclear. But a group that includes businessman Anthony Dal Bello plans to meet Wednesday to discuss an attempt to either buy the property or rent other space.
Sister Angela of the Sisters of Bethany.
Photo by Sue De Lapa
I broke the story Thursday in The Independent and the L.A. Times featured the story on the front page of their California section on Friday. Sister Angela, 69, who suffers from diabetes and needs a walker to get around, has also been interviewed on L.A. radio and, when I visited Monday, was being interviewed by Spanish language TV.
The plight of the Sisters of Bethany, a small order with three convents in Southern California and others in Latin America, has won the sympathy of the non-Catholic public as well. The Santa Barbara Sisters of Bethany have lived among the Eastside poor for more than a half-century and worked with the needy. "The support from all over has been overwhelming," Sister Superior Angela told me Monday. Eviction to pay for the sins of the priests is "wrong, it's immoral, and it's unholy," said a prominent Santa Barbaran who asked that his name not be used. He's dubbed the impromptu committee: "SOS," Save Our Sisters.
(Coincidentally, Our Lady of Guadalupe is the same church where Father Matthew Kelly was a priest. Kelly, as was reported as The Independent's cover story last week, allegedly molested many boys while simultaneously being a hero of the Eastside. See Nick Welsh's story on Kelley here.)
Rosemary Escalera Gutierrez, real-life sister of Sister Angela, has fired off blistering e-mails. One email explained: Archdiocese spokesperson Tod Tamberg says that he too is paying the price for the pedophile priest scandal, that the Catholic faithful have to share in the price for the sins of the few. His price was not getting a raise. Gee, how does that compare to losing your house and job? Tamberg also says that the Bethany order is sure to "step in" and help the transition. That is simply sugar coating. The fact is that the archdiocese is doing nothing for the sisters. As far as they are concerned, the evicted nuns are on their own. If the church engaged in relocating the accused pedophile priests, some of whom used the transfer to continue their evil acts on new victims, why can't it relocate these nuns to continue their good work? Finally, as a spokesperson, will Tamberg explain why the eviction letter is dated June 28, but not delivered until August 28? As Sr. Angela says, the worst thing is the cold detachment from the hierarchy. If they give a damn about the Sisters it's a well kept secret, for they have heard not one word of compassion from the archdiocesan personnel nor from the local "prince of the church," Bishop Curry of Santa Barbara.
"Thanks for writing the article on the Sisters of Bethany," e-mailed Dal Bello to me. "I have had the honor of knowing the Sisters since they first came to Santa Barbara in1951.This committee will study the pros and cons of purchasing the convent where the Sisters presently reside or finding alternative housing in Santa Barbara. After all the work the Sisters have done for this community in the past 55 years it is time for the community to come to their assistance." If you'd like to help, you can reach Dal Bello at 565-3730.
-----
You tell me. Has the Times even begun to cover the story of sex crimes in the Catholic Church in the last three years? Considering how many people are affected by the two issues, sex crimes of priests and the closing of Sisters of Bethany convent, which story deserves ongoing coverage?
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Monday, September 17, 2007
Why did cases settle when the Catholic Church had no defense at all? Many questions as LA hearings begin again this week. Plus: What Would Mahony Say?
*****
By Kay Ebeling
(Hearings in LA Clergy Cases begin again tomorrow in Judge Fromholz’ Court, with two motions on calendar for Tuesday September 18th. The City of Angels will be there and continue reporting in this blog.)
In the LA clergy cases settled July 16th, the Archdiocese used more than 18 law firms to fight claims made by sex crime victims in its own churches, to fight families and family members in its own parishes. The settlement was $660 million and the LA Archdiocese may have spent another $660 million preventing justice from going forward.
Out of those 18 law firms not one cogent legal argument against a plaintiffs’ case ever came forward. Church Attorneys never denied that the rapes and satanic acts on children’s bodies took place. They just got cases dismissed for missed deadlines or because of plaintiffs' confusion as to which is the correct defendant church parish or other entity on which to serve a subpoena.
I’m still trying to understand why plaintiffs settled when the church really had no case at all? At the same time plaintiffs were ready to show a jury shocking evidence and put on testimony that would have blown the roof off cathedrals across the country. One Clinton Hagenbach case alone names 28 priests who were part of an inner circle of pedophiles in Southern California. Many of these inner circle pedophile pederast priests came from Our lady of the Angels Junior Seminary. Testimony would have showed how the church aided and abetted these criminals. With the cases settled how will we get that evidence now?
Over and over again Plaintiffs Requested a Discovery Referee
By July 16th there still was no Discovery Referee
The church was not cooperating at all.
A jury would have seen right through the church attorneys’ antics.
For example on March 27, 2007, Plaintiffs’ attorneys filed a Motion for a discovery referee because they were having so much trouble getting depositions and documents from the church.
As far as I can tell there still no discovery referee one by July 16th settlement
On May 16th was a hearing to compel Monsignor Lirette’s Testimony and again at that hearing Plaintiffs’ requested a discovery referee. Did plaintiffs ever get a deposition from Lirette?
In a jury trial the church’s frivolous motions and obstructive dance in front of the judge would have been obvious. The church had no case, no legal argument to defend itself in any of the plaintiff cases in LA so I’m still stymied as to why they settled before jury trials.
Why did all 520 cases in LA have to settle? And all 108 in San Diego? Why couldn't some 5 percent of the cases against the LA Archdiocese have continued to trial while the other 95 percent ended in pretrial settlements. Why did the settlement have to be global?
Freberg’s motion to compel deposition denied
Days Before SettlementsImportant Motion To Compel Documents of St. John’s Denied
Motion of plaintiffs to compel deposition of custodian of Records for St. John’s Seminary - DENIED
Right before the July 16th settlement.
The church won yet another round claiming plaintiffs’ request “recycles arguments made numerous times in prior motions.”
Doesn't this sounds like Alice in Wonderland came to life in the judge’s chambers again?
:
Defendant argues the court can’t order the seminary to produce files prior to an in camera review.
Plaintiff states that since Defendant asserts privacy objection Defendant knows documents have to first be sent for in camera review.
Defendant replies: Plaintiffs “offer no authority for the proposition that a defendant must offer documents for in camera review without being asked to do so.”
And the judge went along with it.
Plus Freberg Had to Pay
Katherine Freberg had to pay $1500 to Kneafsey Tostado & Associates to boot as the “Court finds this motion is unnecessary,” wrote Haley Fromholz.
And They Were Still Trying to Get A Discovery Referee
In that circa July 16th court order denying plaintiffs’ motion to compel deposition of the Custodian of Records for St. John’s Seminary, Frolholz stated in the closing paragraph:
“Defense counsel remarked that Liaison Counsel have been discussing the possibility of a stipulated procedure to govern submission of documents for in camera review by the Court
“or a discovery referee that would obviate repetitive motions.
“The court is amenable to this possibility.. . and asks the parties to proceed with dispatch.”
By July 16th they were still trying to get a deposition and discovery referee to show up. They’d gotten one assigned, but so far he hadn’t made it to any depositions.
More after this:
*****$$$???!!!
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Mahony Quotes:
Would he have been able to get away with this in front of a jury?
From Cardinal Roger Mahony’ November 2004 deposition about his years as Bishop of Stockton. A sampling
Page Number - Quote
20 Well, I'm not sure about whether I forgot it or remembered it, but I acted quickly on it. That's what I remember.
33 I don't remember exactly.
33 I honestly don't recall that.
34 I simply don't recall any.
35 I don't recall any.
38 I don't recall the curriculum exactly.
39 I don't recall the sequence, actually.
50 I honestly don't remember.
50 I simply don't recall.
65 I don't recall.
77 I don't recall exactly when I knew he was not going to return.
78 I don't recall, but most likely I did.
80 I don't remember specifically.
81 I actually don't remember.
81 I simply can't recall what kind of system I used.
82 I don't recall, but it was in the last year or two.
86 I actually don't recall exactly.
86 No, I don't recall.
89 I honestly don't remember, but very possibly he did.
96 I don't recall the first time I learned of that.
96 I actually don't recall that specifically.
102 I certainly don't recall.
102 I just don't recall.
104 I simply don't recall any case.
105 I don't remember when that was.
107 I simply don't recall any.
108 No, best of my knowledge, I don't recall that.
108 I don't recall any.
112 My testimony is I cannot recall something like that occurring during this time.
113 I can't recall any.
114 No, I'm not I can't recall of a case.
116 I can't recall exactly.
117 I can't recall any.
118 I simply don't remember when.
119 No, I don't recall doing that.
125 I don't remember exactly when.
125 I just can't recall.
129 I don't recall.
137 I actually don't recall.
137 Again, I don't recall whether it was or not.
137 I don't recall.
138 I don't recall exactly.
138 I don't recall the time period when that actually occurred. 138 I honestly don't recall.
166 No, I simply don't recall anything specific.
171 I can't recall during those four brief months. This is 1962. I simply can't recall. That wasn't my job.
172 I can't recall anything specific, because protecting children can mean many, many things.
172 I don't recall any instruction.
173 I can't recall any.
173 You asked if I recalled, and I said I don't recall.
174 I don't recall, no.
191 I don't recall reviewing records.
192 I don't recall reviewing files and documents prior to visiting.
195 I don't remember specifically, but I don't remember specifically, but I think he was.
202 I can't recall anyone specifically saying these are legal liabilities of the diocese.
217 I don't recall.
219 No, during my time as Bishop I don't recall ever going directly to the confidential files.
221 I have absolutely no recollection of that.
233 I can't recall any other reports as such.
243 I don't recall seeing it.
247 I don't recall seeing this letter before.
252 No, in fact, I don't recall when.
253 No complaints that I can recall.
253 I just don't recall.
253 I honestly don't remember.
254 I really don't recall that.
254 I have no recollection of the name at all.
256 I simply can't remember any.
260 I don't recall. I may have. I don't recall.
261 I really don't recall. I may have. I simply don't remember.
(From “Non-Random Access Memory”
Posted by: Diogenes - Jan. 02, 2005 12:43 PM ET USA)
-------------
From Today’s Massage
See Link at Bottom of Page
It’s not about religion it’s about relationship
Hate what's evil and cling to what's good
There’s still things we have to do but by freeing ourselves of the burden of being hurt we free ourselves from hurting God.
If you're holding onto stuff He’ll hold onto stuff.
Love of God must be sincere
No matter if you've been hurt let down abandoned denied, your love still must be sincere.
It’s a tough pill to swallow because the natural reaction is I want revenge. I won’t pray for my enemy, I won’t bless those who persecute me
So you do the math, count the costs. It’s just not worth it. You have way too much to lose. Just let it go. When you count the costs, figure it out, it’s too much to pay.
Remember Romans 12:19 Vengeance is Mine.
And City of Angels Lady starts attending hearings and document diving again this week.
More to Come. . .
By Kay Ebeling
(Hearings in LA Clergy Cases begin again tomorrow in Judge Fromholz’ Court, with two motions on calendar for Tuesday September 18th. The City of Angels will be there and continue reporting in this blog.)
In the LA clergy cases settled July 16th, the Archdiocese used more than 18 law firms to fight claims made by sex crime victims in its own churches, to fight families and family members in its own parishes. The settlement was $660 million and the LA Archdiocese may have spent another $660 million preventing justice from going forward.
Out of those 18 law firms not one cogent legal argument against a plaintiffs’ case ever came forward. Church Attorneys never denied that the rapes and satanic acts on children’s bodies took place. They just got cases dismissed for missed deadlines or because of plaintiffs' confusion as to which is the correct defendant church parish or other entity on which to serve a subpoena.
I’m still trying to understand why plaintiffs settled when the church really had no case at all? At the same time plaintiffs were ready to show a jury shocking evidence and put on testimony that would have blown the roof off cathedrals across the country. One Clinton Hagenbach case alone names 28 priests who were part of an inner circle of pedophiles in Southern California. Many of these inner circle pedophile pederast priests came from Our lady of the Angels Junior Seminary. Testimony would have showed how the church aided and abetted these criminals. With the cases settled how will we get that evidence now?
Over and over again Plaintiffs Requested a Discovery Referee
By July 16th there still was no Discovery Referee
The church was not cooperating at all.
A jury would have seen right through the church attorneys’ antics.
For example on March 27, 2007, Plaintiffs’ attorneys filed a Motion for a discovery referee because they were having so much trouble getting depositions and documents from the church.
As far as I can tell there still no discovery referee one by July 16th settlement
On May 16th was a hearing to compel Monsignor Lirette’s Testimony and again at that hearing Plaintiffs’ requested a discovery referee. Did plaintiffs ever get a deposition from Lirette?
In a jury trial the church’s frivolous motions and obstructive dance in front of the judge would have been obvious. The church had no case, no legal argument to defend itself in any of the plaintiff cases in LA so I’m still stymied as to why they settled before jury trials.
Why did all 520 cases in LA have to settle? And all 108 in San Diego? Why couldn't some 5 percent of the cases against the LA Archdiocese have continued to trial while the other 95 percent ended in pretrial settlements. Why did the settlement have to be global?
Freberg’s motion to compel deposition denied
Days Before SettlementsImportant Motion To Compel Documents of St. John’s Denied
Motion of plaintiffs to compel deposition of custodian of Records for St. John’s Seminary - DENIED
Right before the July 16th settlement.
The church won yet another round claiming plaintiffs’ request “recycles arguments made numerous times in prior motions.”
Doesn't this sounds like Alice in Wonderland came to life in the judge’s chambers again?
:
Defendant argues the court can’t order the seminary to produce files prior to an in camera review.
Plaintiff states that since Defendant asserts privacy objection Defendant knows documents have to first be sent for in camera review.
Defendant replies: Plaintiffs “offer no authority for the proposition that a defendant must offer documents for in camera review without being asked to do so.”
And the judge went along with it.
Plus Freberg Had to Pay
Katherine Freberg had to pay $1500 to Kneafsey Tostado & Associates to boot as the “Court finds this motion is unnecessary,” wrote Haley Fromholz.
And They Were Still Trying to Get A Discovery Referee
In that circa July 16th court order denying plaintiffs’ motion to compel deposition of the Custodian of Records for St. John’s Seminary, Frolholz stated in the closing paragraph:
“Defense counsel remarked that Liaison Counsel have been discussing the possibility of a stipulated procedure to govern submission of documents for in camera review by the Court
“or a discovery referee that would obviate repetitive motions.
“The court is amenable to this possibility.. . and asks the parties to proceed with dispatch.”
By July 16th they were still trying to get a deposition and discovery referee to show up. They’d gotten one assigned, but so far he hadn’t made it to any depositions.
More after this:
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
Mahony Quotes:
Would he have been able to get away with this in front of a jury?
From Cardinal Roger Mahony’ November 2004 deposition about his years as Bishop of Stockton. A sampling
Page Number - Quote
20 Well, I'm not sure about whether I forgot it or remembered it, but I acted quickly on it. That's what I remember.
33 I don't remember exactly.
33 I honestly don't recall that.
34 I simply don't recall any.
35 I don't recall any.
38 I don't recall the curriculum exactly.
39 I don't recall the sequence, actually.
50 I honestly don't remember.
50 I simply don't recall.
65 I don't recall.
77 I don't recall exactly when I knew he was not going to return.
78 I don't recall, but most likely I did.
80 I don't remember specifically.
81 I actually don't remember.
81 I simply can't recall what kind of system I used.
82 I don't recall, but it was in the last year or two.
86 I actually don't recall exactly.
86 No, I don't recall.
89 I honestly don't remember, but very possibly he did.
96 I don't recall the first time I learned of that.
96 I actually don't recall that specifically.
102 I certainly don't recall.
102 I just don't recall.
104 I simply don't recall any case.
105 I don't remember when that was.
107 I simply don't recall any.
108 No, best of my knowledge, I don't recall that.
108 I don't recall any.
112 My testimony is I cannot recall something like that occurring during this time.
113 I can't recall any.
114 No, I'm not I can't recall of a case.
116 I can't recall exactly.
117 I can't recall any.
118 I simply don't remember when.
119 No, I don't recall doing that.
125 I don't remember exactly when.
125 I just can't recall.
129 I don't recall.
137 I actually don't recall.
137 Again, I don't recall whether it was or not.
137 I don't recall.
138 I don't recall exactly.
138 I don't recall the time period when that actually occurred. 138 I honestly don't recall.
166 No, I simply don't recall anything specific.
171 I can't recall during those four brief months. This is 1962. I simply can't recall. That wasn't my job.
172 I can't recall anything specific, because protecting children can mean many, many things.
172 I don't recall any instruction.
173 I can't recall any.
173 You asked if I recalled, and I said I don't recall.
174 I don't recall, no.
191 I don't recall reviewing records.
192 I don't recall reviewing files and documents prior to visiting.
195 I don't remember specifically, but I don't remember specifically, but I think he was.
202 I can't recall anyone specifically saying these are legal liabilities of the diocese.
217 I don't recall.
219 No, during my time as Bishop I don't recall ever going directly to the confidential files.
221 I have absolutely no recollection of that.
233 I can't recall any other reports as such.
243 I don't recall seeing it.
247 I don't recall seeing this letter before.
252 No, in fact, I don't recall when.
253 No complaints that I can recall.
253 I just don't recall.
253 I honestly don't remember.
254 I really don't recall that.
254 I have no recollection of the name at all.
256 I simply can't remember any.
260 I don't recall. I may have. I don't recall.
261 I really don't recall. I may have. I simply don't remember.
(From “Non-Random Access Memory”
Posted by: Diogenes - Jan. 02, 2005 12:43 PM ET USA)
-------------
From Today’s Massage
See Link at Bottom of Page
It’s not about religion it’s about relationship
Hate what's evil and cling to what's good
There’s still things we have to do but by freeing ourselves of the burden of being hurt we free ourselves from hurting God.
If you're holding onto stuff He’ll hold onto stuff.
Love of God must be sincere
No matter if you've been hurt let down abandoned denied, your love still must be sincere.
It’s a tough pill to swallow because the natural reaction is I want revenge. I won’t pray for my enemy, I won’t bless those who persecute me
So you do the math, count the costs. It’s just not worth it. You have way too much to lose. Just let it go. When you count the costs, figure it out, it’s too much to pay.
Remember Romans 12:19 Vengeance is Mine.
And City of Angels Lady starts attending hearings and document diving again this week.
More to Come. . .
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Where do we go from here? Just keep telling the stories. A good place to start is “Sacrilege” by Leon Podles
*****
By Kay Ebeling
Around mid-July the tone of this blog changed as I began reading a new book “Sacrilege” by former federal investigator Leon Podles. A few chapters in and I began to see obvious patterns in pedophile priest rape crime across the country. The more I read the more I realized, in city after city for the last half century kids in Catholic churches were raped, perpetrators were enabled to continue raping, victims and victims’ families were shut up. And most astonishing, bishops and other hierarchy lied many times under oath, or conveniently forgot, and documents disappeared.
The way the pattern of crime is laid out in “Sacrilege” the logical next step from here should be federal indictments and Senate hearings to expose the true reasons these crimes were able to continue for more than 50 years in the United States.
“Sacrilege” came out September 1st (for more information see the left column of this blog). Reading the book you get blatant proof that these crimes are not just about “a little fondling.” In case after case priests whispered to children that the sex acts they were doing were a kind of religious rite of passage. In more than one case children's murders go unsolved.
Podles is on the board of Bishop Accountability and as such is probably the first author to really dive in and make use of the bisohopaccountability.com databank. The book is 676 pages and every few paragraphs you feel like you’ve watched a full length feature film. The volumes and volumes of stories all documented at bishop accountability will provide endless material for writers in the next few centuries and Podles’ book is almost an invitation to go document diving and find out more.
But as one of the crime victims myself, this book also makes me angry, really angry (and my anger management class recently got canceled!) as I see how also in city after city, these “men of the cloth” ran roughshod on the law and the law let them.
Getting Away with Murder as Well. . .
The autopsy found wads of chewing gum in the stomach
There was plenty of evidence that registered sex offender the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne murdered one of his victims Danny Croteau in Springfield, Mass, in 1972. “The police went to the rectory to examine Lavigne’s clothes but the priest at the rectory would not let them in and the police did not try to get a search warrant,” writes Podles. “The district attorney at the time, Matthew Ryan, a close friend of Bishop Weldon, decided not to prosecute Lavigne.”
The murder of Danny Croteau is still unsolved but since Lavigne was raping Croteau’s brothers and many other boys as well, we know part of his MO was to give boys liquor and then chewing gum to cover the smell on their breath. In the autopsy “Danny’s stomach was full of wads of chewing gum.”
In Davenport, Iowa, as Bishop Gerald Francis O’Keefe “continued to receive complaints about abuse by priests, he knew that a paper trail creates liability, so he kept few records. However the day after O'Keefe received a letter about Rev. James M. Jenssen’s masturbating boys at a card game, Jenssen became the new Director of Vocations for the diocese.
In the 1980s ex-priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos lived openly in Dallas with his young unschooled Filipono priest friend and they regularly had little boys stay overnight in the rectory with them. Stories about Kos dated back to the 1970s and one letter written in 1992 describing little boys running around the rectory survived long enough to become evidence.
“Bishop Grahmann claimed never to have read the letter,” Podels writes in “Sacrilege.” “Monsignor Rehkemper later testified that he didn't remember reading Williams’ eyewitness account of Kos in bed under the covers with a boy.”
Why wasn’t any evidence produced?
From testimony under oath:
“‘That's the most important piece of evidence in the case,’ Turley said. ‘You were waiting for someone to see him (Kos) sleeping in the bed with someone and you just let it get by you?’
“Rehkemper did not think the matter of alleged child molestation important enough to read carefully a letter from an eyewitness.
“Or the monsignor lied under oath.”
Here in my copy of “Sacrilege” I wrote my first note in the margin.
I circled "Or the monsignor lied under oath"
And wrote “Why?” and then started writing "Why" in the margin on page after page where it showed bishops and monsignors lying under oath, lying to the investigators, hiding evidence.
Why was it so important to cover up the pedophile crimes?
What other crimes are they hiding?
----------
I CAN’T TAKE THIS!!
There are scrawlings throughout my copy of Sacrilege now. On Page 213 is “Numbers!” with this phrase circled:
“At least 42 of the 88 parishes of the Phoenix diocese had abusive priests in them.”
On that same page I scrawled, “Write this as a scene” and circled:
Rev. Charles T. Fatooh, vicar general of Monterey, after Trupia retired “gave Trupia work and rented him a condo in Maryland, where according to neighbors Truia’s young male friends visited him.
“Trupia drove a Mercedes C320 with a rosary dangling from the rearview mirror.”
In Arizona
“bishops and priests passed boys around as party favors.” (P. 211)
--------
In Baltimore:
“The City prosecutor failed to charge Blackwell.”
In Baltimore a 1993 police report includes a doctors’ report showing “the suspect has been touching and fondling the complainant over the past three years.
“the City Prosecutor failed to charge Blackwell.”
I Scrawled the words “A whole scene” on page 198 and circled this paragraph:
“The Rev. William Q. Simms, who came to St. Andrew-by-the-Bay with a boy in tow was into sadomasochistic sacrilege. Two boys filed suits in 1980 saying that when they were 13-year-old altar boys at his parish he had them dress up as saints and martyrs before they had sex. They engaged in ‘ritualistic sexual fantasies’ that included ‘initiations of torture inflicted on Christ and certain saints.’ The lawsuits were settled out of court but not until after the Baltimore archdiocese tried to make the boys’ name public.”
Tell me that one paragraph alone couldn't be developed into a full length feature film?
Page after page, paragraph after paragraph, one story after another. To be honest I’m overwhelmed by “Sacrilege” by Leon Podles. My copy is folded and mutilated with pages falling out, I’ve circled paragraphs and tried to set up a kind of index for myself with the scrawlings in the margins.
** Sacrament abuse
** Bishops obviously lying under oath
** Law enforcement cooperating in covering up the crimes
Astonishing also in city after city is that no one in the church ever seemed to wonder what these crimes were doing to the children and the families of the children.
Where Do We Go From Here?????
Through August there was a notice here about a meeting and we did hold a meeting Sunday September 9th and a few people did show up. But I have come down off my delusion of grandeur cloud for last month. How can I produce a TV series when I don't even have a camera?
So I know what I’m going to do from here.
I know from reading Leon Podles’ book “Sacrilege.”
As Podles’ book shows there are volumes and volumes of documents about these crimes and almost every case is a full length feature film worthy story.
So I hope to be the Dominic Dunne of priest pedophile stories.
Dunne’s daughter Dominique Dunne was murdered in the early 1980s and her ex-boyfriend only served seven months for the crime. That motivated Dominic Dunne and he spent the rest of his life writing about rich people getting away with murder and became the world’s foremost authority on the subject.
I too am motivated by "Justice Interruptus" so I may spend the next 40 years document diving here in LA becoming to pedophile priest rape what Dominic Dunne it to rich people getting away with murder. I can only work with the resources I have at hand, and that's a blog and my laptop. Eventually I’ll get a digital camera and start interviewing people and doing b-roll and posting the videos.
But for now one step at a time. I am not a person with organizational skills to form a group, so let’s just drop that idea, okay?
RE THE ADS:
I just found out that every time someone visits this blog it registers with Google and I make some formula that comes out to a fraction of a cent. Then when people actually visit one of the ad sites I get another fraction of a cent. As more people read the blog the fractions of a penny get larger.
So the goal from here is to keep writing lots of stories and just posting them on the blog. Then try to increase the readership.
In the near future there will also be a second blog with more in depth articles on priest pedophile crimes, and more ads -- as I develop my Google blogger empire (next grand delusion?).
Why haven’t there been any posts in so long?
Every summer in late August I go through this lull. I was born August 29th but I was born three and a half weeks late, supposed to have a birthday in early August. Instead I just languished there in the heat of the womb and Chicago’s summer, not moving. I seem to still come to a stop at the end of August to this day. Around August 20th my life just comes to a stop. It doesn't help that in LA every time you step out the door you face a wall of heat. Then in early September the heat lifts and I just start getting energized again.
So -- More to Come. . .
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
By Kay Ebeling
Around mid-July the tone of this blog changed as I began reading a new book “Sacrilege” by former federal investigator Leon Podles. A few chapters in and I began to see obvious patterns in pedophile priest rape crime across the country. The more I read the more I realized, in city after city for the last half century kids in Catholic churches were raped, perpetrators were enabled to continue raping, victims and victims’ families were shut up. And most astonishing, bishops and other hierarchy lied many times under oath, or conveniently forgot, and documents disappeared.
The way the pattern of crime is laid out in “Sacrilege” the logical next step from here should be federal indictments and Senate hearings to expose the true reasons these crimes were able to continue for more than 50 years in the United States.
“Sacrilege” came out September 1st (for more information see the left column of this blog). Reading the book you get blatant proof that these crimes are not just about “a little fondling.” In case after case priests whispered to children that the sex acts they were doing were a kind of religious rite of passage. In more than one case children's murders go unsolved.
Podles is on the board of Bishop Accountability and as such is probably the first author to really dive in and make use of the bisohopaccountability.com databank. The book is 676 pages and every few paragraphs you feel like you’ve watched a full length feature film. The volumes and volumes of stories all documented at bishop accountability will provide endless material for writers in the next few centuries and Podles’ book is almost an invitation to go document diving and find out more.
But as one of the crime victims myself, this book also makes me angry, really angry (and my anger management class recently got canceled!) as I see how also in city after city, these “men of the cloth” ran roughshod on the law and the law let them.
Getting Away with Murder as Well. . .
The autopsy found wads of chewing gum in the stomach
There was plenty of evidence that registered sex offender the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne murdered one of his victims Danny Croteau in Springfield, Mass, in 1972. “The police went to the rectory to examine Lavigne’s clothes but the priest at the rectory would not let them in and the police did not try to get a search warrant,” writes Podles. “The district attorney at the time, Matthew Ryan, a close friend of Bishop Weldon, decided not to prosecute Lavigne.”
The murder of Danny Croteau is still unsolved but since Lavigne was raping Croteau’s brothers and many other boys as well, we know part of his MO was to give boys liquor and then chewing gum to cover the smell on their breath. In the autopsy “Danny’s stomach was full of wads of chewing gum.”
In Davenport, Iowa, as Bishop Gerald Francis O’Keefe “continued to receive complaints about abuse by priests, he knew that a paper trail creates liability, so he kept few records. However the day after O'Keefe received a letter about Rev. James M. Jenssen’s masturbating boys at a card game, Jenssen became the new Director of Vocations for the diocese.
In the 1980s ex-priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos lived openly in Dallas with his young unschooled Filipono priest friend and they regularly had little boys stay overnight in the rectory with them. Stories about Kos dated back to the 1970s and one letter written in 1992 describing little boys running around the rectory survived long enough to become evidence.
“Bishop Grahmann claimed never to have read the letter,” Podels writes in “Sacrilege.” “Monsignor Rehkemper later testified that he didn't remember reading Williams’ eyewitness account of Kos in bed under the covers with a boy.”
Why wasn’t any evidence produced?
From testimony under oath:
“‘That's the most important piece of evidence in the case,’ Turley said. ‘You were waiting for someone to see him (Kos) sleeping in the bed with someone and you just let it get by you?’
“Rehkemper did not think the matter of alleged child molestation important enough to read carefully a letter from an eyewitness.
“Or the monsignor lied under oath.”
Here in my copy of “Sacrilege” I wrote my first note in the margin.
I circled "Or the monsignor lied under oath"
And wrote “Why?” and then started writing "Why" in the margin on page after page where it showed bishops and monsignors lying under oath, lying to the investigators, hiding evidence.
Why was it so important to cover up the pedophile crimes?
What other crimes are they hiding?
----------
I CAN’T TAKE THIS!!
There are scrawlings throughout my copy of Sacrilege now. On Page 213 is “Numbers!” with this phrase circled:
“At least 42 of the 88 parishes of the Phoenix diocese had abusive priests in them.”
On that same page I scrawled, “Write this as a scene” and circled:
Rev. Charles T. Fatooh, vicar general of Monterey, after Trupia retired “gave Trupia work and rented him a condo in Maryland, where according to neighbors Truia’s young male friends visited him.
“Trupia drove a Mercedes C320 with a rosary dangling from the rearview mirror.”
In Arizona
“bishops and priests passed boys around as party favors.” (P. 211)
--------
In Baltimore:
“The City prosecutor failed to charge Blackwell.”
In Baltimore a 1993 police report includes a doctors’ report showing “the suspect has been touching and fondling the complainant over the past three years.
“the City Prosecutor failed to charge Blackwell.”
I Scrawled the words “A whole scene” on page 198 and circled this paragraph:
“The Rev. William Q. Simms, who came to St. Andrew-by-the-Bay with a boy in tow was into sadomasochistic sacrilege. Two boys filed suits in 1980 saying that when they were 13-year-old altar boys at his parish he had them dress up as saints and martyrs before they had sex. They engaged in ‘ritualistic sexual fantasies’ that included ‘initiations of torture inflicted on Christ and certain saints.’ The lawsuits were settled out of court but not until after the Baltimore archdiocese tried to make the boys’ name public.”
Tell me that one paragraph alone couldn't be developed into a full length feature film?
Page after page, paragraph after paragraph, one story after another. To be honest I’m overwhelmed by “Sacrilege” by Leon Podles. My copy is folded and mutilated with pages falling out, I’ve circled paragraphs and tried to set up a kind of index for myself with the scrawlings in the margins.
** Sacrament abuse
** Bishops obviously lying under oath
** Law enforcement cooperating in covering up the crimes
Astonishing also in city after city is that no one in the church ever seemed to wonder what these crimes were doing to the children and the families of the children.
Where Do We Go From Here?????
Through August there was a notice here about a meeting and we did hold a meeting Sunday September 9th and a few people did show up. But I have come down off my delusion of grandeur cloud for last month. How can I produce a TV series when I don't even have a camera?
So I know what I’m going to do from here.
I know from reading Leon Podles’ book “Sacrilege.”
As Podles’ book shows there are volumes and volumes of documents about these crimes and almost every case is a full length feature film worthy story.
So I hope to be the Dominic Dunne of priest pedophile stories.
Dunne’s daughter Dominique Dunne was murdered in the early 1980s and her ex-boyfriend only served seven months for the crime. That motivated Dominic Dunne and he spent the rest of his life writing about rich people getting away with murder and became the world’s foremost authority on the subject.
I too am motivated by "Justice Interruptus" so I may spend the next 40 years document diving here in LA becoming to pedophile priest rape what Dominic Dunne it to rich people getting away with murder. I can only work with the resources I have at hand, and that's a blog and my laptop. Eventually I’ll get a digital camera and start interviewing people and doing b-roll and posting the videos.
But for now one step at a time. I am not a person with organizational skills to form a group, so let’s just drop that idea, okay?
RE THE ADS:
I just found out that every time someone visits this blog it registers with Google and I make some formula that comes out to a fraction of a cent. Then when people actually visit one of the ad sites I get another fraction of a cent. As more people read the blog the fractions of a penny get larger.
So the goal from here is to keep writing lots of stories and just posting them on the blog. Then try to increase the readership.
In the near future there will also be a second blog with more in depth articles on priest pedophile crimes, and more ads -- as I develop my Google blogger empire (next grand delusion?).
Why haven’t there been any posts in so long?
Every summer in late August I go through this lull. I was born August 29th but I was born three and a half weeks late, supposed to have a birthday in early August. Instead I just languished there in the heat of the womb and Chicago’s summer, not moving. I seem to still come to a stop at the end of August to this day. Around August 20th my life just comes to a stop. It doesn't help that in LA every time you step out the door you face a wall of heat. Then in early September the heat lifts and I just start getting energized again.
So -- More to Come. . .
*****$$$???!!!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog. Please come back often and visit my advertisers. I also pass the Internet hat. You can support this blog by putting cash on my PayPal account. Just click the button in the top left corner. I report all income to the IRS. Thank you.
END COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
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