Thursday, August 2, 2007
Associated Press
Six more sex abuse lawsuits were filed Thursday in federal court against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
The lawsuits were filed by
The settlement set aside about $20 million for future claims. The new complaints seek a total of $16.6 million in damages.
Archdiocese of Portland Archbishop John Vlazny speaks during a past press briefing. An archdiocese spokeswoman said church officials had no comment on the new cases.
Two nuns and a janitor were named in the new complaints, along with two priests who had been named in earlier lawsuits. The new lawsuits did not identify the alleged victims.
According to the complaints:
— Sister Patricia Mary Anne, a nun and teacher at the
— Sister Genevieve Marie, a nun and teacher at
— A janitor at All Saints Parish and School in Northeast Portland, identified only as Carl, was accused of inducing a girl to engage in sexual acts dozens of times in a boiler room during the 1980-81 school year.
— The Rev. Thomas Laughlin was accused of providing a boy with alcohol and sexually abusing him as many as 100 times at
— The Rev. James Harris was accused of sexually abusing a boy about four times from 1951 through 1954 at St. Joseph Parish and School in
The archdiocese was the first Catholic diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy in July 2004.