Word: protectant
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...increase in lawsuits is prompting dioceses from Providence, R.I., to Los Angeles to take further measures to protect--or hide, depending on your point of view--their assets. But it is also prompting new scrutiny of their corporate structures and raising questions about who should be held accountable for the sins of the fathers. "They act no different than Enron," says Miami attorney Ron Weil, who has pursued scores of sexual-abuse cases. "It's a very transparent effort to insulate themselves from liability...
There is much to protect. According to lawyers for 38 plaintiffs in Rhode Island, the Roman Catholic diocese of Providence operates more than 220 corporate subsidiaries, including the Aldrich Mansion, a sprawling compound on Narragansett Bay where the Brad Pitt movie Meet Joe Black was filmed. Shooting took six weeks on a property that charges $3,000 to hold a baby shower there. The Providence diocese owns $44 million in real estate, and income from its property finances a wide range of social services. Diocese officials argue that it cannot afford to compensate victims of sex abuse...
Practically every Catholic institution in the U.S. is searching for ways to protect itself financially. The Boston archdiocese, for instance, is considering a complete reorganization of its corporate structure to protect against future liability. One possibility would be for it to hold all its real estate in trust for its parishes, which would make it even more difficult for new claimants to squeeze much money out of the archdiocese for priests' misdeeds...
...expanded to include four local schools and two in Honduras. Sisters of Mary is incorporated and run by a lay board of directors. Its financial affairs are directed by a Virginia-based private investment group that primarily focuses its efforts on sustaining small nonprofit organizations. "You have to protect the future, and that's what the parishes and the schools are trying to do now," says Bernard Dobranski, dean of the Ave Maria School of Law, which is down the road from the convent...
...against as many as 450 separate claims of sexual abuse. Plaintiffs' attorneys in California and New Mexico say they have received dozens of new allegations in recent weeks. In Milwaukee, the reverberations of last week's disclosure have only begun. The longer the church has to fight to protect its assets, the more likely it is that the real cost will be measured in faith. --Reported by John U. Bacon/Ann Arbor, Laura Bradford and Julie Rawe/New York, Matt Kelly/Providence, Adam Pitluk/Dallas and Sean Scully/Los Angeles