01/05/2005

Associated Press

Those intending to file a sexual abuse claim against the Archdiocese of Portland must do so by April 29.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris approved the deadline in a court order issued Monday.

Faced with a $135 million jury trial set to begin July 6, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy, becoming the nation's first diocese to do so. The archdiocese faces $534 million in pending claims from 72 individual plaintiffs, according to a bankruptcy court filing.

The archdiocese will conduct a $300,000 notification program to alert potential claimants to the deadline, said Bud Bunce, spokesman for the archdiocese.

Those who want to pursue a claim, including the plaintiffs already suing the archdiocese, must file a proof-of-claim form. It requires those who had sexual contact with anyone working for the archdiocese to disclose certain details.

The form asks for the identity of the person who made the sexual contact, when the activity happened and the nature and extent of injuries.

The name of the claimant will remain confidential, but the archdiocese and its insurers will use the information to investigate the facts and circumstances of the claims.

David Foraker, an attorney appointed by Perris to represent all unidentified future claimants, said he will file a universal claim that protects the rights of those people by April 29.

Future claimants include three groups: current minors whose parents or guardians haven't yet filed claims on their behalf, people who don't remember the abuse because of repressed memory syndrome and people who haven't yet linked past sexual abuse with current problems such as alcoholism.

As part of the notification program, public notices about the deadline will appear once a week for three weeks in 12 Oregon newspapers, as well as newspapers in Washington, Idaho, Montana, California and British Columbia.

The notices also will run in the Portland-based Catholic Sentinel, along with four other Catholic publications in Washington and California. To reach national audiences, the notices will run once in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

A support group of clergy sex-abuse survivors criticized the program.

"This is going to sound harsh, but I look at it as a waste of money," said Bill Crane, regional director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Crane opposes any deadline for claims.

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Information from: The Oregonian