Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: Joseph H. Saunders
Profession: Attorney at Law

Category: Abuse in the News

In what is clearly one of the largest civil settlements in this rural New England state, a Chittenden County jury returned an $8.7 million verdict in favor of a survivor of sexual abuse. The verdict included both compensatory and punitive damage awards. The priest abuser, Rev. Edward Paquette, was not a named defendant in the civil suit.

A key factor in the trial may very well have been the fact that Paquette had abused prior to his arrival in the Diocese of Burlington. The prior abuse had occurred in Indiana and Massachusetts. An aggravating factor may have been that the bishop at the time John Marshall retained Paquette in spite of knowlege of abuse in Rutland Vt.

While the jury verdict in Vermont is a victory for all survivors of priest sex abuse it also clearly demonstrates why the revelation of internal church documents, the so-called secret files, are so important in these types of cases. Often without access to these files, plaintiffs and survivors of sexual abuse can not prove their case and are unfairly denied justice. It is precisely these secret, internal church files that reveal the long and sordid history of abuse and Catholic Church cover-up. It's amazing that it's the same whether it's a tiny diocese like Burlington or a huge metropolitan archdiocese like Los Angelese or Boston. The church officials, bishops and their assistants spared no cost in hiding and covering-up for these sex abusers.