Two priests who worked in the Diocese of Palm Beach have been senteced to prison sentences. Rev. Francis Guinan, 66, was convicted of grand theft in pilfering hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach. Another priest, Rev. John Skehan has also been sentenced to prison time. Both priests have been found guilty of bilking the parish for expensive vacation, trips with girlfriends and extravagant living. Skehan has been sentenced to 14 months in prison whil Guinan received a prison sentence of 4 years.
Remarkably, the Diocese of Palm Beach and supporters of both priests had asked the judge to be lenient in his sentence. One priest friend argued that Guinan had suffered enough and didn’t deserve a prison sentence. This is what disturbs me. Anyone else would have received a harsher sentence and citizens would not have argued for a reduced sentence. Yet, their status as priests, in some people’s view, gives them a license to steal and do whatever they want. This is the saem typ of reaction we get when taking on the Catholic Church in sexual abuse cases. Somehow, because the defendant is a priest, he should be afforded a different set of guidelines when it comes to criminal behavior. The problem lies with the society that excuses criminal behaior on the part of a religious figure, who should be held to a higher stander, not a lower one.

While Rep. Kriseman is an attorney at the firm of Saunders & Walker, he has no association with nor is he involved in any fashion with the litigation concerning Azalea residents and Raytheon. Rick Kriseman’s work at the firm is concentrated solely and exclusively in general liability issues.
Saunders & Walker attorney and Florida House Rep. Rick Kriseman (D-53) has filed HB 1229 which, if passed, will notify residents with a 500 foot radius of a contaminated test well. Additionally, the bill would notify schools that are within a mile radius of such contamination. The bill would also make it necessary to inform all elected officials, at every level, of the pollution. The costs for notification would be borne by the responsible parties for the contamination and not the taxpayer.
This bill arose out of the Azalea neighborhood debacle where residents were not informed about a toxic plume coming from the local Raytheon plant in St. Petersburg. The plume has spread and local residents remain anxious about the potential consequences to their health as well as diminution of property values.
While Rep. Kriseman admits the bill is not perfect, he pledges to work diligently to ensure the future safety of Floridians.

The New York Times published an editorial in support of the NY State Legislature’s Child Victim Act. The editorial is thoughtful and skillfully delineates the reasons why the bill should become law. I was particularly impressed with the editorial’s assessment of the fairness question. The Times correctly notes that fairness to victims who’ve suffered in silence and powerlessness for years far outweighs the fairness to the predators and the institutions that covered up for them.
Good for the Times! Passage of the NY abuse legislation will help those victimized by sexual predators to move from being victims to being survivors. Additionally, a purge of institutional documents detailing the cover-up will also help cleanup the institutions themselves. In the end, both survivors and the institutions will be healthier for it.

I have to admit that after reading the New York Times article concerning Cardinal Egan’s radio interview, I was left puzzled. Egan is about to retire from arguably the most important Catholic See in the country and he chooses to question the discipline of celibacy? I find it rather odd. However, after reading National Catholic Reporter John Allen’s piece on Pope Benedict’s trip to Africa, another thought occurred to me. Perhaps, Egan, himself a skilled handler of the press and canon lawyer, wanted to deflect attention away from the upcoming vote in Albany on the Child Victim Act.
Allen’s piece on how Benedict got trapped into a discussion of condoms when the Pope clearly wanted to talk about his message of hope for the African continent. In other words, Benedict allowed the traveling press corps to control the news cycle. Perhaps Egan is a bit more clever. By revisiting the question of celibacy in light of the priest shortage in the US, he avoids the more difficult issue of the abuse legislation being considered in Albany.
While this is mere conjecture on my part, it may be that Egan wanted to discuss the shortage of priests rather than those who’ve abused in New York. If that was his strategy, it worked. The New York Times’ headline talked about Egan breathing new life into the discussion on celibacy. If the Cardinal is talking about a hot topic such as celibacy it allows Catholic lobbyists in Albany to continue behind the scenes applying pressure on state legislators.

If you’ve been following the Child Victim’s Act bill work its way to the full NY State Assembly in Albany, you’ve those opposed to the legislation say many things about why the bill is bad. Some objections to the bill have no basis in fact: 1)the bill targets the Catholic Church, 2)the Catholic Church will have to close schools and hospitals, and 3)the bill is dredging up the past and the problem has been resolved.
First, the NY abuse legislation doesn’t target any one individual or institution. If you want proof read the bill. Secondly, in states where similar legislation has passed (California and Delaware) no such occurrence has happened. Finally, the sex abuse scandal has not ended because far too many predators have eluded justice thanks in part to restrictive and outdated statutes of limitations which protect the predator rather than children.
While most legislation is complicated, the Child Victim’s Act is simple. It’s designed to protect children and help those who’ve been abused in the past come to grips with the injustice. If predators and the institutions that protected them are not forced to change, children will continue to be hurt.
In the upcoming weeks prior to a vote on the measure, we are going to hear apocalyptic tales of how this bill hurts the Catholic Church. Just remember whom it’s designed to help: our children.

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Rep. Rick Kriseman (D-53) is a member of the Florida House of Representatives and an attorney with Saunders & Walker PA
If Representative Dave Murzin has his way, there will be no reason for an insurance company to act in good faith when attempting to settle a personal injury claim.
Currently, Florida Statute 624.155 sets forth the manner in which an injured person who is treated unfairly by an insurance company may pursue a civil action against that insurance company for their bad faith behavior.
624.155 states that “any person” may bring a civil action against an insurer when that person is damaged by certain actions undertaken by the insurance company. Under Rep. Murzin’s bill, this language has been changed to limit that right only to the insured. So how does this change affect an injured party?
Say I am in an auto accident caused by Joe Driver, and I receive significant injuries. I make a claim with Joe Driver’s insurance company, Neverpay Insurance. Neverpay makes me a settlement offer which fails to fairly compensate me for my injuries. Under the proposed legislation, I would have no rights against Neverpay for failing to settle my claim in good faith.
Despite the fact that the bill attempts to take away the rights of third parties to pursue an insurance company for bad faith, in another section of the bill, it adds language which attempts to require that third party to “fully cooperate” with the insurance company, with failure to do so providing a defense to the carrier.
It is important to note that there is no such requirement on the insurance company, nor is their a contractual relationship between a third party and the insurance company. In fact, by nature of the claim, there is a recognized adversarial relationship between an insurance company and the third party. For example, if the third party gave a recorded statement to the insurance company, and then requested a copy of that statement from the insurance company, the company could refuse to provide the third party with his/her statement. Under this bill, the third party, if she/he was able to obtain a statement from the insurance company’s insured, would be required, if requested, to provide the insurance company with a copy of their insured’s statement.
The bill also changes the length of time an insurance company has to correct its bad faith conduct. Under current law, insurance companies must correct their conduct within 60 days of receipt of a civil remedies notice. Under Rep. Murzin’s bill, that time period has been extended to 90 days, thus giving insurance companies an additional 30 days with which to hang onto their money.
The bill also requires the party filing the civil remedies notice to state the amount he/she claims is owing. This section may have the effect of limiting the amount that the injured party can recover should the insurance company fail to remedy its conduct.
The bill also abolishes the long standing common law cause of action for bad faith, limiting the injured party to a statutory claim only.
These are just some of the highlights (or lowlights) found in this bill (there are more). Without trying to sound too melodramatic, should this bill pass the legislature and be signed into law, insurance carriers would lose all incentive to fairly and timely settle injury claims. If that happens, good luck to us all.

The Saunders & Walker Justice Network is pleased to announce the launch of our dedicated priest abuse and molestation website http://abuseadvocate.com
Here you will find a wide variety of information related to the archdiocese on NY as well as catholic church and diocese from all across America. We invite and encourage participation in our new abuse and molestation forum where child and adult victims of clergy abuse are safe to express themselves freely on a wide variety of topics including sexual abuse and molestation in the catholic church. Our forum is open to all victims of sexual abuse and molestation and will not be limited to abuse lawsuits or those who were victims of priest or clergy abuse.
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Victims of child sexual abuse took one step closer to being able to bring their abusers to court after a close 11-8 vote in the Codes Committee of the NY Assembly. The sponsor of the legislation, Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) was guardedly optimistic after the committee vote. She undoubtedly knows that the next few weeks will see an unprecedented onslaught by Catholic lobbyists who oppose the sex abuse measure. The Catholic Church is fighting the bill because in the past many lawsuits against the Catholic Church were dropped or dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired. If the Child Victims Act becomes law, those same lawsuits and most likely many more would be able to be brought against the six dioceses and one archdiocese in New York.

In a potentially important development, the Orthodox Union in New York has made a statement that it will not oppose the Child Victims Act presently under consideration in the NY State Legislature. Today, the bill is supposed to be voted on in committee before heading to the full assembly, if it makes it out of the committee.
Since there have been a recent spate of sexual abuse allegations against New York rabbis, the announcement is somewhat of a surprise, albeit a welcome one. The statement of the Union notes that those who’ve been sexually abused have a right to pursue justice in a court of law.
The Catholic Church remains staunchly opposed to the legislation and the 7 dioceses, including the Archdiocese of New York have lobbied hard in opposition to the measure.