A child sex abuse victims bill that stands a renewed chance of passage in Albany could "bankrupt" the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the diocese warned Friday, shutting schools, parishes, clinics and other church institutions by allowing dozens of lawsuits from cases dating back decades.But supporters of the bill shot back that the diocese was exaggerating the potential damage and that the proposed law would finally give victims of predatory priests their day in court.
The bill, which may be voted out of committee in the Assembly as early as Tuesday, would create a one-year window during which statute-of-limitations laws would be suspended and victims of child sex abuse could file civil lawsuits against their alleged attackers and the institutions that harbored them.
Good chance of passing
Some politicians and supporters contend it stands a good chance of passing because both the Assembly and Senate are now controlled by Democrats.
Michael Dowd, an attorney who represents many of the alleged victims on Long Island, estimated there are 200 victims in the Diocese of Rockville Centre and that lawsuits could add up to millions of dollars.
Diocese spokesman Sean Dolan said the bill would be potentially "catastrophic" for the church. "Financially it could bankrupt the Diocese of Rockville Centre," he said. "It could decimate Catholic education. It could decimate Catholic health care. It could decimate our parishes."
He called the bill a "veiled attempt to strip away and bankrupt the Catholic Church and mitigate the tremendous good the Catholic Church has done."
Rectifying abuse
But Michael Armstrong, a spokesman for the main Assembly sponsor of the bill, Margaret M. Markey (D-Maspeth), denied that and said the bill is aimed at rectifying years of abuse that went unpunished. Armstrong added that "the bankruptcy issue is a red herring" and that no dioceses have filed for bankruptcy due to sex abuse lawsuits.
But a few dioceses have gone into bankruptcy, including Portland, Ore. Others such as the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which paid out at least $764 million, have avoided bankruptcy.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre, with about 1.3 million Catholics, did not release figures on how much it has paid out so far. But Dowd said four cases he was able to pursue because the five-year statute of limitations had not expired resulted in awards totaling nearly $10 million.
While Dolan said the bill unfairly targets the Catholic Church, Armstrong said it would apply to victims in any institution - private or public - including schools.
The Markey bill has passed in the Democratic-controlled Assembly the last three years, but its fate remains unclear in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Mixed reaction
Reaction among representatives from Long Island's delegation was mixed.
Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington), for instance, said through a spokesman Friday he is reserving judgment on the Markey bill.
State Sen. Carl L. Marcellino (R-Syosset) said he opposes it and instead would support a bill introduced by Assemb. Vito J. Lopez (D-Brooklyn) that would eliminate the proposed one-year suspension of the statute of limitations.
"These are heinous crimes obviously ... but even the ACLU seems to agree that this one year opening seems to be a problem," Marcellino said.
Church officials, including Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, were in Albany this past week lobbying against the Markey bill, but Assemb. Patricia Eddington (D-Medford), a co-sponsor of the bill, said she would not be "threatened."
"I am on that bill because I care about the 150,000 children whose souls were stolen under sexual abuse," she said.
WHAT THE LAW WOULD DO
*The Markey bill would create a one-year window during which the five-year statute of limitations on filing lawsuits in child sex abuse cases would be dropped. This would allow alleged victims to file lawsuits in the state regardless of when the abuse occurred.
* The alleged victims would have to prove their case in a court of law.
* The bill would also extend the statute of limitations for future cases from five years to 10 years. It is counted from the alleged victim's 18th birthday, meaning they would have until 28 years of age to file a lawsuit instead of 23.
* A competing bill introduced by Assemb. Vito J. Lopez (D-Brooklyn) does not include the one-year open window. It would extend the time an accuser can file suit to seven years after turning 18, that is, 25 years of age.
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(Source: RCNG)