Victim of Sex Abuse by Priest Receives $30 Million Vedict

If the Roman Catholic Church will not do its own house cleaning of pedophile priests - and the bishops, cardinals and Popes who enabled them and covered up abuse - then perhaps the only way to force reform is through huge judgments in favor of abuse victims. That seems to be the thinking of a Delaware jury that awarded $30,000,000 to a man who said he was sexually abused more than 100 times by a Roman Catholic priest. Moreover, the jury levied $3 million of the award against the priest's parish. Obviously, no amount of money will restore the damage suffered by this victim. However, the severe financial punishment meted out to the Church will hopefully force reform - if not at the volition of the Church hierarchy, then by demand of insurance cariers who may be rethinking issuing liability policies to the Church and its parishes. Here are highlights from the New York Times:
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A jury in Delaware on Wednesday awarded $30 million in compensatory damages to a man who said he was sexually abused more than 100 times by a Roman Catholic priest — the largest such award granted to a single victim in a clergy abuse case, victims’ advocates said.
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In an unusual outcome, the jury decided that the parish where the abuse occurred, St. Elizabeth in Wilmington, must pay $3 million of the damages, while the perpetrator is liable for the rest.
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It is usually the diocese or the religious order, not the parish, that is held responsible for damages. But the Diocese of Wilmington, which covers all of Delaware, declared bankruptcy last year just as the lawsuit was going to trial, so this lawsuit as well as more than 100 pending lawsuits against the diocese was frozen.
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The jury is set to hear evidence on punitive damages on Monday. Thomas S. Neuberger and Stephen J. Neuberger, father-son lawyers for the plaintiffs, say they have saved the most damning evidence for this phase, and that the award to the plaintiff could grow substantially beyond the compensatory damages.
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St. Elizabeth parish is a large church with an elementary school, a high school, and three resident priests. The Rev. Norman Carroll, the parish pastor, said he could not talk about the case because it was continuing. Mr. Vai, the plaintiff, testified that the parish was negligent in his abuse. He said that when he was a small boy being hauled up the stairs to his abuser’s bedroom in the rectory, he was spotted by another parish priest, who is now a diocesan official. The official, Msgr. Thomas Cini, testified that he was unaware of the abuse. Another witness testified that other priests in the parish were aware of Mr. DeLuca’s behavior.
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The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest who was an expert witness for the plaintiff in this case and many others, said, “This was egregious because of the level of direct knowledge imputed to priests who lived there at the time.”
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What is truly egregious is the fact that the current Pope and the many, many bishops and cardinals involved in cover ups still hold their positions - and that sheeple still bow and ass kiss to such morally deficient individuals.