Church's settlement offer riles lawyers

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has offered $7.5 million to about 100 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse, lawyers in the cases said yesterday.

A lawyer for some of the alleged victims called the proposal ''egregiously disingenuous," and others said the offer would provide far less money to each of their clients than the historic 2003 agreement that settled 554 cases.

The lawyers said the archdiocese's attorney, Thomas H. Hannigan Jr., briefed them over the last week on the details of the archdiocese's proposal. The plan would require many of the claimants to prove their case in a mediation process in which they would be cross-examined and may be forced to confront priests accused of abuse, the alleged victims' lawyers said.

The archdiocese confirmed yesterday that negotiations are underway, but refused to discuss details or respond to criticism by the alleged victims' lawyers.

''Representatives of the Archdiocese of Boston are in discussions with individual plaintiffs' attorneys as they work to resolve pending claims," the archdiocese said in a statement released through its media consultants, Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications. ''In conjunction with a mediation agreement reached with plaintiffs' counsel, however, all discussions are confidential."

Details of the offer were described by four lawyers representing alleged victims in the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal. They said the archdiocese is asking the alleged victims to respond in early February. The lawyers representing the alleged victims said they still plan to brief their clients before deciding whether to demand a more generous offer from the archdiocese.

In the Sept. 9, 2003, settlement, the archdiocese distributed $85 million to 554 alleged victims. The settlements ranged from $80,000 to $300,000 for each case, with a median of $155,000. Lawyers involved in the case said the new offer ranges from $5,000 to $200,000, with a median of $75,000.

Alleged victims in the 2003 settlement were not required to face the accused priests or be cross-examined by archdiocesan lawyers.

In another key difference with that settlement, the archdiocese's offer would only cover alleged victims in cases involving priests and not those involving lay employees, deacons, or others, lawyers said. It would exclude those who were abused at 18 years of age or older or cases brought by spouses or parents of alleged victims.

''It demeans the survivors," said Tony Cotillo, one of the claimants in the case. ''The archdiocese has apparently abandoned the compassionate and respectful manner that characterized the previous round of settlements."

The lawyers said there are about 200 cases pending, but the various restrictions in the offer excludes about half of those.

Carmen L. Durso, an attorney representing 33 of the roughly 200 alleged victims, said the proposal Hannigan outlined to him would exclude more than half his clients from collecting from any agreement or scare off some who would not want to face an adversarial mediation process.

''The Boston Archdiocese wants to create a new internal tribunal system that would require those claiming to be victims of church sex abuse by priests to face their accusers and be cross-examined," Durso said. ''They are telling this group that their cases are less significant and less important."

Asked why the latest offer is much lower, Durso speculated that the church was reverting to a confrontational legal strategy it used in the earlier stages of the last settlement talks.

Lawyers in the case said that the proposed guidelines have not been put in writing, and that they are waiting for details. But those interviewed said the information provided by Hannigan in conversations over the last week offered a rough estimate that only half the 200 victims would be eligible.

''It is as if the sexual abuse crises never occurred," said Mitchell Garabedian, who represents 55 of the 200 cases. ''We are back to square one."

The lawyers' stake in the proposed settlement has not been disclosed. The lawyers said their clients' reactions were sharply negative. ''They are just shocked," said Durso. ''They feel demeaned. The idea that someone might consider that being sexually abused is only worth $5,000 is a shocking idea."

Said another lawyer in the case, Mark Itzkowitz: ''Those of us who have been through these two rounds appreciate that what is going on here is gratuitously offensive."

Hannigan did not respond to a request for an interview.

Durso said the second wave of people filing claims came forward thinking they would face the same process that the 554 others did in the 2003 settlement. Since there was no tribunal in the first round, Durso said, ''they said they felt it was safe to come forward."

In the 2003 settlement, the two sides agreed that all claims would be assumed to be true and valid for purposes of the settlement. Alleged victims presented their cases to a team of arbitrators from Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation of Brockton, which, after hearing and comparing all claims, decided individual damage awards.

Under the new proposal, the cases would be divided into three categories or tiers. The first would face a similar process that the claimants went through two years ago. A second would include cases in which the accused priest objects or the church contends there is little evidence to establish a claim. The alleged victims would then go through an adversarial process, in which they could be cross-examined and possibly face the priest. A third tier would include all cases that the archdiocese said it would not consider.

According to Laurence Harmon, a Boston lawyer in the case who is representing 12 clients, some of those remaining cases could end up in lawsuits.

''We would like to wrap this up, but this proposal does not accomplish that, and that is unfortunate in my view," said Harmon, who added that he was particularly upset by the proposal's contention that some of the claimants stories of abuse were not true.

''There is no basis for that conclusion that these aren't legitimate," he said.

The second wave of cases was created during summer 2003, in the weeks leading up to the historic $85 million settlement agreement between the archdiocese and alleged sexual abuse victims.

As it became clear that the church was interested in a settlement, lawyers for both sides agreed to cap the number of claimants so that they could negotiate based on what an average victim would receive.

They chose July 30 as a cut-off date, and agreed that only claims of alleged victims who were formally identified by the lawyers before that date would be included in the settlement, lawyers involved in the negotiations said.

Some people in the second wave are alleged victims whose claims could not be formalized in time, lawyers said. But the vast majority, they said, are people who were reluctant to come forward prior to the 2003 settlement.

Lawyers said many in the second wave were encouraged by the terms of the $85 million agreement, which required only that victims make a statement to an arbitrator about their abuse without being subjected to questioning or cross examination.

Ralph Ranalli of the Globe staff contributed to this report.