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Friday, July 25, 1997

Jury finds diocese negligent in priest sex-abuse lawsuit, awards millions

By MADELINE BARO / Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP) - In the largest verdict of its kind, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas was ordered to pay nearly $120 million Thursday for allowing a priest to molest altar boys and then conspiring to cover it up.

"It dwarfs anything else we've ever heard of," said Bill Ryan, spokesman for the U.S. Catholic Conference.

The plaintiffs - 10 men the clergyman was accused of molesting and the family of another who committed suicide - had sought $146.5 million in damages. Their attorneys contended that the diocese ignored evidence that the Rev. Rudolph Kos was sexually molesting boys.

"I'm overwhelmed," said Nancy Lemberger, a plaintiff and the mother of the deceased victim.

"We asked this jury to speak to the world and they have done that," said Windle Turley, an attorney for the plaintiffs. "This is a terribly important decision for children."

The state district court jury awarded about $101 million in compensatory damages. Then, after hearing more testimony, it awarded $18 million in punitive damages.

Church officials said they will appeal.

"The diocese of Dallas remains committed to abiding by the final outcome of this case. However, an appeal may be made in order that a higher court can review all the issues and make certain that a final verdict is just and appropriate," Bishop Charles Grahmann said.

After hearing 11 weeks of testimony, jurors began deliberating Tuesday on the 43-page charge, consisting of 33 questions.

In its 33-item questionnaire, the jury agreed that the diocese was negligent in its handling of Kos, lied about him, inflicted emotional distress on the plaintiffs and committed fraud.

District Judge Anne Ashby read a statement from the jurors directed to the diocese. They asked church officials to change the way they investigate child abuse by priests.

"Please admit your guilt and allow these young men to get on with their lives," they said in the statement, which received a standing ovation from the plaintiffs and their families.

The diocese does not dispute the molestation claims but denies negligence.

Jurors split the damages between the church and Kos under a complex formula that assigned varying percentages of blame in each plaintiff's case. In one case the blame was split 50-50 between the diocese and Kos; in other cases the church was held to up to 85 percent responsible.

However, Turley said under Texas law, the church will be responsible for Kos' portion if he doesn't pay.

Estimates of the costs of the priest sex-abuse scandals in the United States range as high as half a billion dollars. In 1994, the U.S. Catholic Conference reported dioceses had spent at least $60 million in settlements, not including legal and medical fees. Ryan said he could not provide updated figures.

"This kind of astronomical award is a denomination's nightmare," said Oliver Thomas, attorney for the National Council of Churches, the biggest ecumenical organization in the United States.

"As people tend to do, they look for the deep pocket. Unfortunately it's usually the church or the denomination. In most of these cases the church or the denomination has no idea that this sort of misconduct is taking place."

The plaintiffs alleged the episodes occurred between 1977 and 1992 while Kos was a seminarian at Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas and while he was assigned to All Saints Catholic Church in Dallas, St. Luke's Catholic Church in Irving and St. John's Catholic Church in Ennis.

Turley told jurors Monday that the diocese was grossly negligent in failing to stop Kos.

"What we had was a negligent institution letting rage out of control a sick pedophile," Turley said.

But diocesan attorney, Randal Mathis, said Catholic officials are "good people" who wrongly concluded that Kos was not engaged in sexual misconduct.

Kos "got through" the system of safeguards against abusive priests, surviving undetected for many years before getting caught, Mathis said.

"The diocese clearly was wrong, but at the time it was making what it thought were appropriate, fair and reasonable judgments," Mathis said.

Kos, who now lives in San Diego, did not show up to defend himself in the civil trial; Ashby already has found him liable. He awaits a criminal trial for sexual contact with one child and indecency with another, both of whom were plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit.

Turley said he is attempting to bring additional criminal charges.

In a copyright story in The Dallas Morning News in May, Kos denied some of the charges against him and refused to discuss others.

He said he couldn't answer the question of "which ones I had sex with."

"I'm trying not to blame anybody else," he said. "I accept responsibility for anything I may have done. I'm sorry for that." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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