Archdiocese to settle sex-abuse claims for $600 million or more
a.. Story Highlights
b.. Los Angeles Catholic hierarchy to announce settlement Monday, AP says

c.. About 500 plaintiffs to receive average of $1.2 million to $1.3
million each

d.. Settlement includes release of priest personnel files after judge's
review

e.. Jury selection in trials scheduled to begin Monday

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los
Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by
far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The
Associated Press learned Saturday.

Attorneys for the archdiocese and alleged victims are expected to announce
the deal Monday, the day the first of more than 500 clergy abuse cases was
scheduled for jury selection, according to two people with knowledge of
the agreement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the
settlement had not been made public.

The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650
million to about 500 plaintiffs -- an average of $1.2 million to $1.3
million per person. The settlement also calls for the release of
confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to
oversee the litigation, the sources said.

It wasn't immediately clear how the payout would be split among the
insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A
judge must sign off on the agreement, and final details were being ironed
out.

Lead plaintiff's attorney Ray Boucher said negotiations would continue
through the weekend and said there were still many unresolved aspects.

Tod Tamberg, an archdiocese spokesman, did not immediately return a call
for comment.

The settlement would be the largest ever by a Roman Catholic archdiocese
since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

Among the largest total payouts was $100 million in 2004 by the Diocese of
Orange, California, to settle 90 claims. The Diocese of Boston agreed in
2003 to pay $84 million for 552 cases, the same figure the Diocese of
Covington, Kentucky, agreed last year to pay to settle about 360 claims.
Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses -- Tucson, Arizona; Spokane,
Washington; Portland, Oregon; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego,
California -- sought bankruptcy protection.

Last month, the Archdiocese of Portland agreed to pay about $52 million to
175 victims, while setting aside another $20 million for anyone who comes
forward in the future.

The Diocese of Spokane, Washington, also recently emerged from bankruptcy
protection after agreeing to pay $48 million to settle about 150 claims.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic
orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far.

The largest of those came in December, when the archdiocese reached a $60
million settlement with 45 people whose claims dated from before the
mid-1950s and after 1987 -- periods when it had little or no sexual abuse
insurance. Several religious orders in California have also reached
multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the
Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

The resolution of more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese,
however, had remained elusive despite years of legal wrangling. Most of
the outstanding lawsuits were generated by a 2002 state law that revoked
for one year the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that
the archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and
considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to
raise funds for a settlement.

Still, church attorneys had been preparing for 15 trials involving 172
people, with jury selection in the first case to begin Monday.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge overseeing the cases recently
ruled that Mahony could be called to testify in the second scheduled
trial, and attorneys for plaintiffs wanted to call him in many more.

The same judge also cleared the way for four people to seek punitive
damages from the archdiocese -- something that could have opened the
church to tens of millions of dollars in payouts if the ruling had been
expanded to other cases

Archdiocese to settle sex-abuse claims for $600 million or more

Archdiocese to settle sex-abuse claims for $600 million or more