Court: Insurance Doesn’t Cover Milwaukee Priest Sex Abuse

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s insurance company doesn’t have to pay damages that could arise from more than a dozen lawsuits involving sex abuse by priests, a state appeals court has ruled.

The 1st District Court of Appeals decision, if it stands, means the archdiocese may have to pay millions of dollars to settle the cases. The archdiocese is currently in mediation with the plaintiffs and likely will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court, archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski said in a statement.

“The resources of the archdiocese are limited and the loss of the financial contribution from insurance companies makes the challenge of resolving these cases all the more daunting,” he said.

The ruling stems from 13 lawsuits filed by people who claim they were molested by priests that the archdiocese knew posed a threat to children. They say the archdiocese insisted children would be safe around the priests despite knowing the men’s histories.

The archdiocese’s insurer, OneBeacon Insurance Co., argued it shouldn’t be held responsible for damages. Its policy covers accidents, and the misrepresentation was intentional, the company said.

Two trial judges sided with OneBeacon. The archdiocese appealed, arguing it did not intend to harm the plaintiffs. The appeals court disagreed, saying the victims weren’t hurt by accident.

“While the Archdiocese may not have intended to harm the plaintiffs, it certainly intended to keep its knowledge of the priests at issue to itself, ultimately leading to the plaintiff’s injuries,” the ruling said. “The underlying cause of the plaintiff’s injuries, the Archdiocese’s misrepresentations, constitutes an act of volition.”

Paul Scoptur, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, said the ruling involves only the archdiocese and its insurance company and will have little effect on the alleged victims. He said he wasn’t concerned the ruling could reduce potential monetary awards. The archdiocese should be able to cover them, he said. “Our presumption all along was there wasn’t going to be any insurance,” Scoptur said.

The archdiocese four years ago settled 10 cases against two priests with Milwaukee ties for about $16.5 million. They were accused of molesting children in California.

Peter Isely, a Milwaukee leader in the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the recent ruling should serve as a wake-up call to lay people to pay closer attention to church management because their contributions are now directly in play.

“They have to get engaged,” Isely said, “and demand investigation, transparency and accountability.”