February 03, 2010
18 Priest Trials To Be Heard At Once
RUTLAND, VT -- A judge seeking to resolve 25 priest misconduct lawsuits against the state's largest religious denomination has decided to hear 18 of them in one trial. Chittenden Superior Court Judge Helen Toor, facing a five-year-old stack of child-sex-abuse claims against Vermont's Catholic Church, has called for one trial to resolve all remaining civil cases tied to the former Rev. Edward Paquette, who worked in Rutland in 1972, Montpelier in 1974 and Burlington in 1976. Three separate juries have ruled the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington was negligent in hiring and supervising the now-retired pedophile priest. One issued a record $8.7 million verdict in May 2008, a second issued a nearly $3.6 million verdict in December 2008 and a third issued a $2.2 million verdict last October.Click Here For The Full Story......