BOSTON - A proposed $10 million settlement for alleged sex abuse victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan is being closely watched as a possible model for resolution of hundreds of similar claims.
Attorneys for the Boston Archdiocese and the 86 Geoghan plaintiffs said yesterday they were close to a deal. The agreement would cost the church far less than the $30 million settlement the archdiocese pulled out of four months ago. The church's finance council balked at the earlier deal.
Laurence Hardoon, a Boston attorney representing about a dozen alleged victims, said he has delayed filing some lawsuits to see what the archdiocese does in the Geoghan cases.
"I think the church would be hard-pressed to determine amounts for these [Geoghan] cases and then to completely reinvent the wheel and determine completely different amounts for other similar cases," Hardoon said yesterday.
Carmen Durso represents about 60 alleged victims. "The church has to be as even-handed as possible in dealing with victims," he said. "In the settlement, it can't take a position that will end up making people feel like they've been abused again or mistreated again."
The finance council vetoed the earlier proposal because it feared many more lawsuits will be filed against priests. Paying the alleged Geoghan victims up to $30 million would have left little money for any additional settlements, church officials have said.
The latest offer has been approved by the council, according to J. Owen Todd, Cardinal Bernard Law's attorney.
The Geoghan victims are still asking Judge Constance Sweeney to enforce the earlier agreement, which called for the archdiocese to pay victims from $10,000 to $938,000 each.
The judge has not yet ruled on that request, and it was unclear whether she would wait to see if the plaintiffs' attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, and lawyers for the archdiocese can seal the $10 million deal.
Payments to alleged victims would be reduced under the new offer, Garabedian acknowledged. They would get about $25,000 to $320,000, with some of their relatives receiving $10,000.
Geoghan was convicted in January of groping a boy and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Attorneys for the Boston Archdiocese and the 86 Geoghan plaintiffs said yesterday they were close to a deal. The agreement would cost the church far less than the $30 million settlement the archdiocese pulled out of four months ago. The church's finance council balked at the earlier deal.
Laurence Hardoon, a Boston attorney representing about a dozen alleged victims, said he has delayed filing some lawsuits to see what the archdiocese does in the Geoghan cases.
"I think the church would be hard-pressed to determine amounts for these [Geoghan] cases and then to completely reinvent the wheel and determine completely different amounts for other similar cases," Hardoon said yesterday.
Carmen Durso represents about 60 alleged victims. "The church has to be as even-handed as possible in dealing with victims," he said. "In the settlement, it can't take a position that will end up making people feel like they've been abused again or mistreated again."
The finance council vetoed the earlier proposal because it feared many more lawsuits will be filed against priests. Paying the alleged Geoghan victims up to $30 million would have left little money for any additional settlements, church officials have said.
The latest offer has been approved by the council, according to J. Owen Todd, Cardinal Bernard Law's attorney.
The Geoghan victims are still asking Judge Constance Sweeney to enforce the earlier agreement, which called for the archdiocese to pay victims from $10,000 to $938,000 each.
The judge has not yet ruled on that request, and it was unclear whether she would wait to see if the plaintiffs' attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, and lawyers for the archdiocese can seal the $10 million deal.
Payments to alleged victims would be reduced under the new offer, Garabedian acknowledged. They would get about $25,000 to $320,000, with some of their relatives receiving $10,000.
Geoghan was convicted in January of groping a boy and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.