Kansas City Diocese ordered to pay $1.1 million for violating contract with sex abuse

[Disir]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six years after reaching a $10 million settlement with victims of sexual abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has been ordered to pay $1.1 million for violating terms of the contract.

The order, issued by arbitrator Hollis Hanover, stems from a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed nearly three years ago alleging that the diocese and Bishop Robert Finn violated parts of the 2008 settlement, putting children in danger.

The lawsuit was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court by 44 of the 47 plaintiffs from the earlier case. The plaintiffs asked a judge to force the diocese to arbitration to ensure that it had complied with the reforms agreed upon in the settlement.

The issue that sparked their concerns was the diocese's failure to immediately report the Rev. Shawn Ratigan after finding hundreds of disturbing images of young girls on the priest's laptop computer in late 2010.

In his highly critical order, Hanover found that the diocese had breached five of the terms of the 2008 agreement. He noted that the plaintiffs could have sought to declare the contract void and collect what likely would have been "a far larger award."

"They have instead opted to seek damages for these noted breaches and to maintain the contract in force for the protection of children in the future," Hanover wrote. "I here honor their preference and join in their hope that I am dead wrong in my opinion that this Diocese as presently constituted will not mend its ways."

The diocese said Tuesday that because the matter was pending, it could not comment beyond what was submitted to the court in a motion it filed to vacate the order. In that motion, the diocese said that Hanover had exceeded his authority.

"There were no contractual terms under the express arbitration provisions of the 2008 Settlement Agreement which allowed the Arbitrator to award monetary damages beyond the $10M agreed to by the parties almost six years following the dismissals of Plaintiffs' lawsuits with prejudice and Plaintiffs' execution of general releases," the diocese wrote in a court filing.

The diocese also asked the court to modify the award because it contained "a number of factual errors, inaccuracies and unsupported inferences."

In his order, Hanover awarded damages of $650,000 to the plaintiffs, $450,000 to the attorneys and $5,820 for counseling of sex abuse victims that the diocese had not paid.

Read more here: KANSAS CITY, Mo.: Kansas City Diocese ordered to pay $1.1 million for violating contract with sex abuse victims | Religion | The Sun Herald

BAM! And that's how that works.

Did you guys see that?

 

[Moonglow]

The Church will of course pass this litigation cost onto it's donors...

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Yep. Legal fees are now called tithing.

The worst of this is that parents are still taking their children to catholic churches. They're even leaving them alone with priests.

That's child endangerment.