LAWSUIT ALLEGES THE ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK SCHEMED TO TRICK SEX ABUSE VICTIMS OUT OF SUING CHURCH
In 2016, the Archdiocese of New York established a fund to compensate abuses victims. At the time, victims advocates criticized the fund as a way to make cases go away quickly before the legislature acted on proposals to raise the statutes of limitation on abuse claims.
On February 14th, 2019 NY Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the Child Victims Act, giving childhood victims of sex abuse a limited opportunity to sue for damages in cases where those victims previously would have been denied by the state’s statute of limitations. Click here to read more on the Child Victims Act
The same day, a class action was filed on behalf of plaintiffs that took part in the church’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program and agreed to cash settlements from the fund. Additionally, victims waived their rights to future claims.
Lead plaintiff, Emmett Caldwell, agreed to a $75,000 settlement with the archdiocese over his claims that Father Kevin Kelly sexually assaulted him two to three times a week over the course of three months when he was a boy.
The archdiocese connected Caldwell with an attorney, New York-based lawyer Dominique Penson, though his role was limited to “advising on matters related to language and meaning of the release only,” Penson wrote on a release that Caldwell signed accepting compensation from the fund and discharging the archdiocese and clergy members from future claims.
Caldwell’s lawyer said it’s no surprise the lawyers used in the IRCP settlement process were not really there to represent the victims.
“The Archdiocese of New York deceived victims of clergy child sexual abuse and exploited their vulnerabilities arising from that abuse, causing their re-victimization,” attorney Jeff Herman said. “Since the New York legislature passed the Child Victims Act, I have heard from numerous victims of clergy child sexual abuse in New York who feel they were tricked into giving up their rights.”
“A contract, like a release, maybe voided where one party is taken advantage of,” Herman explained.
The lawsuit is seeking to void the contracts signed with the IRCP; allowing Caldwell and others the ability to take the archdiocese to court under the state’s new Child Victims Act.
