Diocese of Covington Class Action

A quick fact about the class action suit against the Diocese of Covington.

One of the Special Masters in the case, William Burleigh (who was a major player at E.W. Scripps newspapers), served on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Review Board regarding sexual abuse with Paul McHugh, a member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation ("FMSF"). The fact that Burleigh served so closely with such a controversial figure was never disclosed to class members. For those of us who suffer from recovered memories, this was a major omission of fact given that the FMSF is a political organization whose views on the unreliability of recovered memories has largely been discounted by leading psychiatrists in the field of recoverd memories (and the psychiatric community at large).

Despite being assured my claim was a strong one by Ann Oldfather who interviewed me, about a year after I submitted my claim form to Class Counsel, I was contacted because they had "serious concerns" about my claim form. The "serious concerns" amounted to Class Counsel wanting one word changed in the claim form. I was also informed by Class Counsel that my claim would likely be rejected because "they are denying all claims dealing with recovered memories." Still, Burleigh's service with McHugh was not disclosed to me. I discovered it only while preparing my appeal after my claim had been denied. When I presented this to Class Counsel they said "Oh, they have approved two claims dealing with recovered memories." The next time this issue was mentioned by Class Counsel, that number magically changed to one case.

It was suggested by Class Counsel that my claim be submitted along with a request to appear in person before Special Masters Burleigh and Thomas Lambros. The Special Masters never responded to that request and simply denied my claim many months later.

To this day, I have serious questions as to whether any claims in this class action having a recovered memory aspect have been approved. If your case involved recovered memories and your claim was approved (or denied) please let me know. Also, you may want to do some google searching on McHugh who has a dubious history with respect to sexual abusers of children.

All contacts are kept confidential if you so desire.