Fransciscans try to get easy dismissal of Ongoing Public Nuisance case by slipping it in with Clergy Cases 2003 then saying it is too late. . .

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By Kay Ebeling

Now Church Attorneys want to move the Ongoing Public Nuisance suit against the Franciscans in Santa Barbara down to LA Superior Court, performing more legal tomfoolery when they think no one is looking. Paul Gaspari, representing the Friars, came out of nowhere last week with a "Request to Add” the Ongoing Public Nuisance case in Santa Barbara, filed December 2007, onto the the “Coordinated Cases” in LA, filed during the unique window of opportunity in California in 2003.

That window was open one time only. I watched the original judge Haley Fromholz dismiss one claim after another last year for being too late, even cases that were filed in the early morning just hours past the deadline at midnight.

At first it looks like lazy lawyering. Then I happened to hear Naomi Klein author of Shock Doctrine on Air America Radio this morning, talking about our current American leadership:

“Don't call them incompetent because they know exactly what they are doing,” Naomi Klein said on the Stephanie Miller Show this morning.

I truly believe there is one very sleazy consulting firm calling the shots for both the Bush Administration and the National Conference of Bishops, as the Catholic Church continues to hide thousands of sex crimes in American archdioceses the last 50 years.

NOTE: Entire Opposition brief at: http://cityofangels11.blogspot.com/ -Note to Church Attorneys. To have your briefs copy and pasted for City of Angels readers, please email them to me as a Word doc at: cityofangelslady@yahoo.com

"The subject lawsuit seeks a court order ending the secrecy. The Franciscans’ corporate practice is a continuing Public Nuisance," Hale writes in the opposition brief.

Gaspari probably thinks Judge Elias will dismiss the new Santa Barbara case, as it certainly was filed a good while after the December 31, 2003, Coordinated Cases deadline.

Gaspari likely makes this request hoping Elias will then have no choice but to dismiss the case.

“Secrecy is the name of the Franciscans’ deadly game,” writes Tim Hale in his opposition.

“The subject Request to Add On is consistent with the Franciscans’ policy of secrecy. With twenty-four (24) Franciscan perpetrators and fifty-nine (59) victims since 1964, Santa Barbara is the epicenter in the Province of the harm caused by the Franciscans.”

The number of victims in Santa Barbara is 60 now. Since the brief filed in August, another victim has been added to the list.

Emilie Elias received the Clergy Cases when Fromholz retired in December 2007, the coordinated cases settled in July of that year.

The Franciscan lawyers want to tie this case to LA because Santa Barbara was still part of the LA Archdiocese in 1964, when some of the sexual assaults in the Ongoing Public Nuisance lawsuit took place.

It appears to be a moot point, obvious waste of court time, almost negligent lawyering - Gaspari’s Request to Add-On is four pages long and just tacks on Hale’s 46-page motion as its one and only exhibit. You start to think, it’s obvious, it’s a slam dunk.

Then think of that quote from Naomi Klein this morning:

“Don't call them incompetent because they know exactly what they are doing.”

Stay Tuned. Below are outstanding quotes from opposition filed by NYE, PEABODY, STIRLING & HALE attorneys in Santa Barbara, copy and pasted in full at http://cityofangels11.blogspot.com

From Opposition (by Tim Hale):

"The subject Request to Add On is consistent with the Franciscans’ policy of secrecy. With twenty-four (24) Franciscan perpetrators and fifty-nine (59) victims since 1964, Santa Barbara is the epicenter in the Province of the harm caused by the Franciscans. As they have done so often with their perpetrators, it comes as no surprise that the Franciscans now seek to transfer this case as far away from Santa Barbara as possible, to a comparably disinterested community in Los Angeles where the lawsuit will most likely be ignored. Justice requires this case be heard in Santa Barbara, the community most severely injured by the Franciscans’ conduct.

"Instead of notifying law enforcement and empowering the public to protect their children, the Franciscans’ have sheltered these predators and thereby thrown to the wolves children in the communities throughout the Western United States where the Franciscans conduct their ministry.

"Franciscan corporate practices have created countless victims of childhood sexual abuse, and continue to put an even greater number of today’s children at risk to be sexually assaulted by predators whose identities and propensities are known only to the Franciscans.

"No community has suffered greater harm to its children, as a result of Franciscan criminal conduct, than Santa Barbara. Since 1964 the Franciscans have allowed no less than twenty-four (24) Franciscan perpetrators to live in Santa Barbara without any warning to the community.

Onward. . .

City of Angels Lady is homebound sick for a while (PTSD strikes hard even 50 years later). As a result we have not been able to go Document Diving, all stories have to be written over the computer and phone for now.

Onward against all odds. . .