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Jury awards two brothers $2 million in priest sex case
USA - Desert Sun, CA - April 14, 2005
Kim Curtis, The Associated Press
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20050414&Category=NEWS10&ArtNo=504140320&Sect
ionCat=&Template=printart
HAYWARD - Two brothers molested by a priest more than two decades ago were awarded nearly $2 million in
damages by a jury Wednesday.
The case involving the abuse of Bob and Tom Thatcher was closely watched because it is the first in a series of sexabuse
lawsuits to seek punitive damages.
Bob Thatcher, 34, was awarded $875,000 in compensatory damages and $875,000 in punitive damages. His brother
Tom, 33, was awarded $180,000 in compensatory damages and no punitive damages were sought in his case.
"We exposed a lot of wrongdoing," Tom Thatcher said outside of court. "The church was called despicable on the
record. They say they have changed their ways and I hope they have."
While the total award of $1.93million was far less than the $27 million plaintiffs attorney Rick Simons asked for in
closing arguments, he said he was pleased the jury ruled that the Oakland Diocese acted with malice and awarded
punitive damages.
"We've done the job we came here to do," Simons said. "The jury found malice on the part of the managing agents.
We're really proud of Bob and Tom Thatcher. My congratulations to them and my thanks to the jury."
The jury decided that the diocese should be responsible for 60 percent of the compensatory damages and the Rev.
Robert Ponciroli is responsible for 40 percent. The plaintiffs do not expect to receive any money from Ponciroli
because he has no assets.
The diocese is responsible for the entire punitive damage award and insurance is not allowed to cover such awards.
There was no immediate word on whether an appeal was planned.
The plaintiffs argued that the church knew Ponciroli was sexually abusing children but failed to stop him. "The jury
decided the policy and practice within the diocese of Oakland was to protect pedophile priests over children,"
Simons said.
Legal observers have suggested that a significant award for the plaintiffs could force the Roman Catholic Church to
settle dozens of lawsuits filed against Northern California dioceses, but Simons said he didn't know what impact this
verdict would have on future cases.
The former altar boys said they were molested when they were 9 or 10 at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch by
Ponciroli, who lured each boy upstairs to his bedroom after asking them to come to the rectory to pick weeds.
Ponciroli, 68, has been removed from public ministry and now lives in Florida.
"It wasn't about the money," Bob Thatcher said. "What the jury said today is the abuse that occurred to me and my
brother shouldn't have happened. It could have been prevented."
Diocesan lawyers do not dispute that the abuse occurred, but they disagree the diocese was responsible for the
anxiety, relationship and drug and alcohol problems the men suffered later.
Church lawyers suggested $250,000 to $400,000 for each man was appropriate. Diocesan lawyer Allen Ruby said in
closing arguments the Thatchers did not prove the link between the abuse when they were children and their
emotional problems as adults.
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