Abuse cases still in legal limbo

Church lawyer says no one is deliberately stalling

Lawyers for the Catholic Church in St. John’s are delaying civil suits filed by sexual abuse victims, contends a solicitor for the plaintiffs.

“The lawyers are giving the clients a hard time, dragging it out,” Greg Stack told The Telegram.

His firm, Stack and Associates, represents about 20 people in the St. John’s area who were abused by priests with the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s.

The bulk were victims of the late Father James Hickey.

Stack said some of their suits were filed 10 and 15 years ago, and that the church’s lawyers are slowing the matters by “nitpicking over details.”

“It’s not as much disputing (information) as it is splitting hairs over small matters, asking for their own independent psychological reviews of the people, things of that nature. It’s foot-dragging. Lawyers are not unintelligent. We all know where these cases are going, and it’s not rocket science to get from Point A to Point B, but anyway, there’s an awful lot of foot-dragging going on.”

He noted the church’s lawyers haven’t raised any differences that would threaten the liability of the claim. “It’s exasperating at times,” he said. Especially for his clients, Stack said, as they’re finding themselves having to recount what happened to them over and over.

“You just try to keep explaining to them, it’s not our doing. It’s the church’s lawyers. They want to just keep going with it. (The clients) generally understand. They’re not happy. The more prolonged it is, the more psychological damage is done,” he says, adding a settlement would at least start to provide some closure.

St. John’s lawyer Tom O’Reilly has been representing the episcopal corporation on the matters.

In an email, he said he takes exception to the notion of foot-dragging to delay these cases.

He noted all dealings on the files in recent years have been with Harry Mugford, one of Stack’s associates, and not Stack, so “I would attribute his comment as having been made without being fully informed.”

Since 1997, O’Reilly explained various Stack and Associates lawyers have represented 20 plaintiffs against the corporation.

Of those cases, nine have been settled, one plaintiff is deceased, six cases are still underway and intermittent settlement discussions are taking place in four.

In two cases, O’Reilly said, there is a denial of liability, and three unresolved cases were among 10 that were the subject of litigation with the episcopal corporation’s insurers that was resolved in July.

He said one case hinges on an insurance coverage issue that is awaiting a Court of Appeal decision.

In another case, they have been advised Stack’s firm no longer represents the plaintiff.

“To my knowledge, there is no correspondence from Mr. Stack’s office to which there has not been a timely response,” O’Reilly pointed out.

Told of Stack’s concerns about church lawyers delaying cases, a spokeswoman said Archbishop Martin Currie wishes to “express his deepest concern for all who have suffered in any way from abuse perpetrated by those who claimed to minister in Jesus’ name.”

“This physical abuse and abuse of trust contradicts the spirit of the Gospel and the principles of love, faith and hope upon which the Church is founded,” she wrote in an email.

“It is Archbishop Currie’s wish that all outstanding cases be brought to a conclusion as soon as possible, in order that all may be empowered to move forward in hope and healing.”

But Stack said he doesn’t see an end in sight. He believes the system needs to be changed because there’s a disincentive for insurance and corporate lawyers involved in such matters to settle them.

“It is a fact that the longer they drag it out, the more money they make. That’s a fact,” he says.