In this Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019, photo, attorney Adam Slater takes a phone call on a patio outside his high-rise Manhattan office overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral, in New York. NEW YORK -- At the end of another long day trying to sign up new clients accusing the Roman Catholic Church of sexual abuse, lawyer Adam Slater gazes out the window of his high-rise Manhattan office at one of the great symbols of the church, St. Patrick's Cathedral.
"The survivors coming forward now have been holding on to this horrific experience all of their lives," she said. "They bottled up those emotions all of these years because there was no place to take it.
Said Los Angeles lawyer Paul Mones, who has won tens of millions in sex abuse cases against the church going back to the 1980s: "The zeitgeist is completely unfavourable to the Catholic Church." This summer, when New York state opened its one-year window allowing sexual abuse suits with no statute of limitations, more than 400 cases against the church and other institutions were filed on the first day alone. That number is now up to more than 1,000, with most targeting the church.
Church leaders who lobbied statehouses for years against loosening statute-of-limitations laws say this is exactly the kind of feeding frenzy they were worried about. And some have bemoaned the difficulty of trying to counter accusations of abuse that happened so long ago that most witnesses have scattered and many of the accused priests are long dead.
"I was sitting in my living room and someone came on TV, 'If you've been molested, act now,"' Mercado said. "After so many years, I said, `Why not?"'"What age would you say you were?""He would take you out of your bed? What did he say when he came to get you?"The next step is to get a lawyer on the line to see if it's a case they can take to court.
One man called with his story and later killed himself. A terminally-ill woman called from a hospice care centre -- "I've been holding this in my whole life." And money to be made. For his fee, Slater said he plans to ask for a full third of any awards his clients collect and he's been spending in anticipation, hiring a half-dozen new paralegals, opening an office in New Jersey and breaking a wall in Long Island to make more room.
Compensation funds offer payment to victims if they agree not take their claims to court. They offer a faster, easier way to some justice, and cash, but the settlements are typically a fraction of what victims can get in trials. And critics say the church is just using them to avoid both a bigger financial hit and full transparency.
They have the money. $4 billion can be found in the collection basket.
Ah money, the root of all evil cleansing the soul of those who seek compensation for what they endured at the hands of the wicked. Nothing money can't solve.
Now that’s what I like to hear, it’s damn time the Catholic Church has gotten justice for its crimes on science, religion, culture, human progress, and last but not least women and children.
Looks good on those hide the pedophile Nazi Popes and Vatican hierarchy. Time to pay the piper. Bleed the Vatican bank like these monsters treated their helpless victims.
If every person abused by the clergy came forward world wide they’d be looking at $4 trillion. It is an epidemic.
It’s funny that the first sentence sums it up. “At the end of another long day trying to sign up new clients accusing the Roman Catholic Church of sexual abuse, lawyer Adam Slater gazes out the window of his high-rise Manhattan office”
It isn’t about personal emotion it’s all about the money and lawyers are keen on to latching on to an easy ticket!
I am now 75 and I remember a man when I was 5 gawking at my penis in a public washroom while I was using the urinal do I have grounds to have him charged Get real people, just move on and cut with all the drama!
Retroactive to the 1200’s could quadruple that cost
Good! Now do public school boards. Theirs a black cloud hanging over that one...
Disgraceful....I'm sure they can afford it....anyone convicted should be jailed...no exceptions!
Trillion n out of business would be better
Not enough. Shut it down.
Why does the Catholic Church still exist? If it were any other corporation, they’d be bankrupt and out of business.
Pass the Collection Plate CatholicChurch
close the catholic church down.. don't rebuild the monumental cathedrals that burned down.. the leadership has not behaved responsibly... end it all
It's a shame the Vatican doesn't have the funds to pay for it. 😂
Good. No free rides for pedophiles.
'Could cost 'Catholic church congregations...' fixed it for you.
They paid less than that in income tax. 😏
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