Consolidation of Suits Against Church Sought

Two lawyers asked the state’s top judge Monday to consolidate as many as 400 potential lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church in California for alleged child sexual abuse by priests.

In a petition to the Judicial Council of California, the lawyers, who represent 35 alleged victims, argued that consolidation before a single Los Angeles judge “will promote judicial economy and the convenience of the parties, will avoid inconsistent or duplicative rulings, and will promote resolution.”

Reaction to the petition varied among lawyers representing other plaintiffs.

At least 11 suits are pending against the Catholic Church in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties, and hundreds more are expected to be filed over the next 12 months under a new state law, according to the petition.

The anticipated flood of lawsuits is the result of a decision by the California Legislature last summer to lift the statute of limitations on sexual molestation lawsuits for a year in certain circumstances.

A day before that law took effect Jan. 1, attorneys for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and hundreds of potential plaintiffs agreed to work for 90 days to try to find a framework for handling the cases, which could include mediation.

A church attorney has said the archdiocese already has provided details of its $150-million insurance coverage and is discussing the kinds of information from confidential files it will turn over to plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys agreed not to file any new cases against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange during the 90-day period, slowing to a trickle the number of cases filed against the Catholic Church last week.

Before the new law, alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse had been barred from suing in molestation cases after their 26th birthday or more than three years after discovering that their emotional problems were linked to a molestation.

Now lawsuits may be filed if an employer allowed a known molester to continue to work and that person went on to abuse another child.

In their petition, attorneys Venus Soltan and John Manly asked Chief Justice Ronald M. George to consolidate all the cases against the church and assign them to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman, who specializes in complex litigation, or another Los Angeles judge.

More than 90% of such requests are granted, a court spokeswoman said. The process takes about three weeks.

Manly and Soltan represent about 35 plaintiffs. Lawyers representing the two other largest groups of plaintiffs said they had not seen the petition.

Raymond P. Boucher and Larry Drivon represent the largest group, about 200 alleged victims. Boucher said he would neither support nor oppose consolidation but leave it to the courts to decide. Drivon said he had not yet read the petition.

Irvine attorney Katherine K. Freberg, who represents 81 clients, had seen the consolidation petition Monday. Freberg said she would consult with her clients but worried they would be lumped into a large indistinguishable group.

“Each one of them has their own story of what happened to them,” she said. “And each one deserves to have their story heard.”

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Archdiocese also declined to comment Monday because he had not seen the petition.

“At this point, it appears unclear whether it makes sense to consolidate claims against other unrelated dioceses,” Tod M. Tamberg said. There are 12 dioceses of the Catholic Church in California.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said last week that he welcomed attempts at mediating out-of-court settlements with alleged victims, saying the process would spare them the “very, very unpleasant experience” of being re-victimized at trials.

Drivon said mediation would spare Mahony and the church as well from public exposure of the kind that ultimately brought down Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as archbishop of Boston last month after embarrassing internal church documents were made public by a Boston court.

“It’s obviously in the interest of the cardinal to shove this under the rug as quickly as possible and to avoid having his deposition be taken and discovery done,” Drivon said. “There is little different between what Cardinal Law did and what Cardinal Mahony did.... When the facts are ... out there on the table instead of under the rug, everyone is going to know that.”

Meanwhile, Los Angeles prosecutors have charged six former priests with sex crimes and are investigating more allegations of child sexual abuse, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said last week.

Arraignment for retired priest George Neville Rucker, charged with molesting seven girls between 1947 and 1976, has been postponed.

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Times staff writer Larry B. Stammer contributed to this report.