Man awarded $1.2 million in sex abuse
case
By NCR STAFF
A St. Louis jury has awarded nearly $1.2 million in damages to a
man who claimed that a St. Louis Catholic priest sexually abused him as a
boy.
In an unrelated case, the investigation of child sex abuse charges
against former Catholic priest Edward McKeown in Nashville, Tenn., has widened
to include a second former clergyman.
Henry Bachmann said March 1 that the St. Louis jury award fulfills
the second of two goals he and his wife had for suing the archdiocese. The
first goal was to get an admission from the now-retired Fr. James Gummersbach
that Gummersbach had sodomized Bachmann nearly 35 years ago when Bachmann was
13.
It was unclear whether that goal was met after Bachmann and the
lawyers for the priest reached a confidential settlement Feb. 23. Bachmann said
he pressed on with his case against the archdiocese for allegedly failing to
supervise the priest.
Bachmann had claimed that he repressed all memory of being
molested until 1992 when a harsh reprimand from his boss brought back the
memories.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about five
and a half hours before awarding Bachmann $498,280 in actual damages and an
identical amount in punitive damages. Jurors awarded his wife, Blanche,
$200,000 for damage to the couples marriage.
Lawyers for the archdiocese said an appeal is likely and that they
were particularly upset by the jurys decision to award Bachmann punitive
damages.
Juror Elvery Colquitt said the churchs decision to allow
Gummersbach to remain a priest after questions arose about his conduct
concerned her.
By keeping him around children I thought that was
very wrong, Colquitt said.
Although jury awards are rare, in 1997, the Dallas diocese was
ordered to pay $119.6 million in damages against 11 victims. Last July, the
diocese settled with nine of the victims for a total of $23.4 million.
Davidson County, Tenn., prosecutors have subpoenaed church
personnel records of McKeown and a second former priest, according to Fr. David
Perkin of the Nashville diocese. McKeown, 54, was arrested in January and
charged with four counts of rape and two counts of aggravated sexual
battery.
The diocese received a call from an adult parishioner who claimed
he was abused by McKeown and the second priest, Perkin said. Prosecutors would
not identify the man, and no charges have been filed against the second
priest.
National Catholic Reporter, March 19,
1999
|