Priest Suits Consolidated Into L.A. Court

Over the objections of the Roman Catholic church in San Diego, all civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests in Southern California were ordered Wednesday into a single courtroom in Los Angeles.

The ruling clears a roadblock in the case, but leaves several other issues unresolved, including the extent to which the church can withhold internal documents, and which judge will hear the case. It is expected to grow to more than 300 plaintiffs.

Giving a single judge overall jurisdiction provides “the big picture� of how many people were allegedly molested over many years by the same priests, said Venus Soltan, a lawyer representing clients in four dioceses.

“It’s not possible for hundreds of cases to happen and no one knows about it,� Soltan said.

The order “is recognition that [sexual abuse by priests] is a mass tort. It didn’t just happen once. It happened a lot,� said John Manly, another plaintiffs’ attorney.

Micheal Webb, an attorney for the San Diego diocese, had asked Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle to assign as many as 20 potential lawsuits against the San Diego and San Bernardino dioceses to a San Diego judge.

“These cases originated in San Diego. We think they should be resolved in San Diego by San Diego courts and San Diego juries,� Webb said Wednesday.

Instead, Berle ordered those cases transferred to Los Angeles, where the same judge also will oversee as many as 200 potential cases against the Los Angeles and Orange County dioceses.

The biggest issue, for now, is who will preside.

California Chief Justice Ronald M. George appointed Berle to the Los Angeles and Orange cases. But Berle was disqualified by plaintiffs’ lawyer Larry Drivon for unspecified reasons -- an option held by all parties in the case.

Since then, attorneys in the clergy litigation have been awaiting his replacement.

J. Michael Hennigan, who represents the Los Angeles Archdiocese, said he continues to exchange information with the plaintiffs, but is frustrated without a trial judge in place.

“Right now, there is nobody home,� he said.

The cases got off to a fast start in Los Angeles, where Judge Peter Lichtman began mediating a possible settlement of hundreds of potential cases late last year before they had been filed in the courts.

A new state law that took effect Jan. 1 eliminated the statute of limitations in child molestation cases for one year, creating a potential avalanche of new lawsuits based on older abuse allegations. But plaintiffs’ lawyers have agreed not to file new lawsuits while Lichtman is mediating claims against the church.

Hennigan said he believes that things are slowing because Lichtman, who was appointed before the cases were ordered coordinated, now thinks that he lacks the authority to proceed.

Raymond Boucher, a plaintiffs’ lawyer with more than 200 clients suing the church, said a trial judge is needed to begin resolving some of the legal issues.

Among them is whether the church can assert its constitutional right of religious freedom to stop the exchange of documents, including admissions of child sexual abuse made by priests to their superiors, being sought by plaintiffs.

The resolution of such issues by a single judge will streamline the litigation process by eliminating conflicting rulings in various courts throughout California, Soltan said.

Some of the same issues are being litigated in criminal courts as prosecutors go head to head with the Catholic Church over access to priests’ personnel files.

Both sides are awaiting a ruling by a retired judge over whether the Los Angeles Archdiocese must turn over “secret files� on priests who are charged with molesting children.

In Los Angeles, eight priests and a former seminarian have been criminally charged in the ongoing investigation of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

There are two pending criminal cases against priests in Ventura County, two in San Bernardino County and one in Orange County.