GREENFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Three dozen adults who say they were abused by Roman Catholic priests decades ago are trying to settle their claims with the Springfield Diocese, two years after the church paid $7.5 million to other clergy sex abuse victims.

About half the pending claims were filed after the 2004 settlement with 46 other people. The others predate the settlement, some going back as long as five years, a lawyer for the alleged victims said.

“I’m very angry about how long this is taking,” said Peter Herrick, 48, who says he was repeatedly abused by several priests starting when he was 11. Herrick, who now lives in Maine, filed his claim against the diocese three years ago.

Lawyers for the diocese say the church wants to settle the 36 pending cases.

The problem, they say, is coming from eight insurance companies that refuse to reimburse the diocese for the $7.5 million settlement and won’t cover the costs of any pending claims.

“We need the insurance companies to live up to their responsibility to insure us,” said John Egan, a lawyer for the diocese.

The standoff led the diocese to sue its insurers last year. And the litigation is threatening to drag on for well over another year.

At a hearing Wednesday in Greenfield Superior Court, lawyers for the insurance companies said they want to take statements from more than 100 people who have pending claims or have settled claims with the Springfield Diocese.

“We’re dealing with about five decades of history,” said John Graceffa, who represents Travelers insurance. “Some of these allegations go back to the 1960s.”

He said the depositions are needed to assess the alleged victims’ credibility before the companies can be expected to pay for any settlements.

“All of us on the defense need to get a look at these people,” Graceffa said.

Attorney John Stobierski, who represented the 46 victims in the 2004 settlement and now represents about half of the 36 pending claims, said he will file a motion to block the insurance companies’ move.

He said many of his clients are too emotionally distraught to be put through another round of questions about the abuse they allegedly endured. One of his clients killed himself and another was feeling suicidal last month, he said.

“These are fragile people,” Stobierski said. “It’s heinous to put them through a court process.”

Herrick, who says his brother was also molested by several priests when he was a boy, called the insurers’ deposition plan “insulting.”

“They’re trying to open all of our old wounds because they don’t want to pay the money,” he said. “It’s a delay tactic. They want to scare us away. But I’ve been through hell in the past 39 years, so any kind of deposition is just trivial at this point.”


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