He’s been called a scourge. A parasite. A media-monger hellbent on bringing
down the Catholic Church.
But the Minnesota lawyer who’s made a career of suing the most powerful
religious institution in the world over its handling of clergy sex abuse cases
pays no mind.
“I don’t care what people think, and I don’t try to control it,” said
Anderson, the lead attorney in civil fraud cases pending against the Archdiocese
of Milwaukee who is now representing those victims in the archdiocese’s
bankruptcy.
News & Events
A fraud lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse that claims child sexual abuse four decades ago moved forward today.La Crosse County Circuit Judge Scott Horne denied the diocese’s motion to dismiss the complaint, in which a Plover, Wis., woman contends diocese officials knew a priest had a history of molesting children before he abused her in 1971.
New York (CNN) — Attorneys said they will announce a new lawsuit Monday against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which has been the subject of a two-year grand jury investigation into claims officials ignored and covered up sex crimes against children.”The Lawsuit will allege that Archdiocese officials conspired to endanger the safety of the Plaintiff when they actively concealed their knowledge of (a) priest’s previous offenses, lied to parishioners, and created a sham sexual abuse victim assistance program for the Archdiocese,” according to a news release announcing the lawsuit. The lawsuit…
Lawyers representing victims of clergy abuse in the Milwaukee Catholic
Archdiocese announced Thursday that they are launching a monthlong media
campaign to encourage others who have been sexually abused in the archdiocese to
come forward.
At a news conference at the Pfister Hotel, lawyer Jeff Anderson said that
because the archdiocese had filed for bankruptcy protection, there will be a
short time frame for survivors of abuse by priests to come forward and make
their claims.
Therefore, he said, he and other lawyers representing survivors are mounting
an unusual outreach…
MILWAUKEE — A 2003 letter from then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan shows he was more concerned about the church’s reputation than the actions of an abusive priest, an attorney for nearly two dozen alleged Wisconsin sex abuse victims claimed Tuesday. But the archdiocese that Dolan now heads said the letter does just the opposite and shows Dolan was deeply concerned and wanted the priest, Franklyn Becker, dismissed. St. Paul-Minn.-based attorney Jeff Anderson obtained the letter, which he released Tuesday, as part of cases he handled in California involving Becker. Anderson has filed 14…
Priest was diagnosed as a pedophile in 1983 but Milwaukee Archdiocese allowed Father Franklyn Becker to continue to work in…
St. Paul lawyer’s attacks on church show increasingly international reach
In a groundbreaking decision, a Federal judge in California today denied a motion by attorneys for the Catholic Church to dismiss a lawsuit based on a unique international law against two Cardinals and a priest for their roles in the sexual abuse of a Mexican man as a boy in 1997, saying the plaintiff has sufficiently plead rape and sexual abuse of children as “…cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” and crimes against humanity.
In 1983, Jeff Anderson was just another lawyer working in St Paul, Minnesota. Then, by chance, the 35-year-old’s career — and life — changed forever when a man walked into his office saying he had been abused by a priest.Soon after taking on the case, Anderson realised the problem was much greater than he had first imagined. It wasn’t just a paedophile priest who was culpable, but also senior bishops who had conspired to cover up the abuse. He promptly sued the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St Paul.The bishops responded with $1m to settle the matter out of court, but Anderson’s client…
An attorney for victims of clergy sex abuse suggested Friday that the
Archdiocese of Milwaukee moved as much as $75 million off its books over
the last six years in an effort to shield it from sex abuse settlements
– allegations denied by the archdiocese.
Dozens of people have come forward since the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
filed for bankruptcy protection last month alleging they were sexually
abused by priests as children, attorneys for victims said Thursday.
On February 10, 2011, a
Philadelphia Grand Jury released a report and a presentment following an
investigation into allegations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a
10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish in Philadelphia, and that another priest
assigned to St. Jerome sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has provided a rare look at its finances with a federal bankruptcy court filing.
Financial statements filed Monday show the archdiocese has nearly $41
million in assets and $24 million in liabilities. The archdiocese filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January after it failed to
reach a settlement with two dozen victims of sexual abuse by Catholic
clergy.
The Journal Sentinel says the court will determine what assets are
available to compensate victims and creditors. Then it will oversee a
reorganization plan to keep the…
A Roman Catholic diocese in Delaware agreed to settle 142 claims of sexual abuse
by priests for $77 million, a spokesman for the diocese said
Thursday.
The settlement by the Wilmington diocese is roughly $3 million more than the
diocese proposed in mid-January, when it said payouts would likely range from
$75,000 to $3 million per victim, depending on the severity of the alleged
abuse.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2009 due to mounting sex abuse claims
dating as far back as the 1950s.
In the United States, Roman Catholic archdioceses have collectively paid some
$2 bill…
Headlines around the world this week have reported that Irish broadcaster RTE
obtained a 1997 letter from the Vatican that instructed Irish bishops not to
report child sex abuse by priests to the police. According to the letter, “the
situation of ‘mandatory reporting’ gives rise to serious reservations of both a
moral and a canonical nature.”
Survivors are calling this the “smoking gun” that proves the Vatican’s
complicity in the abuse cover-up. They are right, but that is not the whole
story with this letter.
Absolutely no one should be surprised by this direct expression of …